SCO calls for review of Manitoba’s child welfare funding model

Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO) is calling upon the Manitoba government to review the current funding model for child and family services, which they claim is long overdue, citing systemic underfunding and staffing shortages within the CFS system.

“It’s setting up First Nations to fail,” said Grand Chief Jerry Daniels, of the SCO.

“Manitoba’s single envelope funding, the model itself in child welfare, is not working for southern First Nations children, families, or our communities.”

SCO is calling for immediate review of Manitoba’s “single envelope funding” model, which was introduced by the Manitoba government in 2019, claiming the current system is placing First Nations children and families at risk.

“It was meant to reduce the overrepresentation of youth and infants in care with promised flexibility, appropriate funding, and cultural supports. Those promises have not been realised,” said Grand Chief Daniels.

According to a 2024-2025 annual report of the Department of Families, in Manitoba, 91 per cent of children in care are Indigenous, according to SCO claims.

Despite that overrepresentation, SCO agencies are not getting enough funding, which they claim is leading to frontline staff shortages that are meant to support families and children. They say the model, which was rolled out in 2019, was due to be reviewed after three years in action.

“Agencies continue to operate with fixed funding envelopes that do not reflect the growing complexity of the needs on the ground,” said the Grand Chief.

Grand Chief Daniels says, the SCO is also concerned with the continuous reliance on federal benefits like children’s special allowance, saying, In some instances, they are used to fill provincial funding gaps and to cover basic operational costs, “that shifts responsibility away from government onto the children themselves. This has to stop.”

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew addressed SCO’s concerns on Friday, highlighting his government’s commitment to providing support to children in care.

“There is a lot that we are doing, and I am sure there is always more that we could do, and our minister is really committed to this, and I am sure she’ll be following up with SCO on how they can work together,” said Kinew.

Chief Don Smoke of Dakota Plains First Nation, said, “The situation where we are set up to fail. So we have to work together, and we need the province to be serious about communication with us.”