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LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS
RECOMMENDATION ONE
The Sub-committee recommends that all federal departments with programs for First Nations families and young children living on Canada's reserves join together to create an integrated policy framework for the development of young First Nations children from 0 to 6. This framework should include a common vision of the results desired, the objectives sought and the lines of accountability.
RECOMMENDATION TWO
The Sub-committee recommends that the Government of Canada:
| a) | Implement culturally appropriate pilot projects in selected First Nations communities across the country. The pilot projects should integrate and harmonize, at the community level, various programs and services for children aged 0-6 living on reserve using a community-based multi-service delivery-model approach (similar to the province of Quebec’s network of centres locales de service communautaires). They should also address the needs of children with disabilities. |
| b) | The Sub-committee further recommends that the principles underlying the pilot projects should include the following: |
| | (i) | The selection of communities, planning and implementation of the pilot projects should take place in consultation with appropriate First Nations organizations. |
| | (ii) | Adequate funding should be made available in order to implement successfully the pilot projects in First Nations communities and to ensure that the selected communities and departments have the budgetary capacity to participate effectively in this initiative. |
| | (iii) | Federal departments providing early childhood development programs and services to First Nations pilot projects should consolidate departmental program funding in one envelope. This consolidated funding framework should be multi-year and flexible. |
| | (iv) | The integrated framework should include mechanisms for the harmonization of programs and services provided by other governments and stakeholders. This harmonization should respect and support the work that has been done, and the services already provided, by the various provincial, municipal and Aboriginal authorities and should be jointly agreed upon by the above-mentioned authorities. |
| | (v) | Prior to the implementation of the pilot projects, common outcomes should be developed, in consultation with the appropriate First Nations organisations, and agreed to by all participating federal departments. |
| | (vi) | Meaningful performance and results indicators should be developed by all participating federal departments and the appropriate First Nations organisations in order to effectively evaluate the pilot projects and be able to make adjustments where appropriate. |
| | (vii) | Requirements for financial accountability and reporting to external agents like DIAND, Health Canada, HRDC, etc., should be harmonized and designed in such a way as to reduce duplication, considering the findings contained in the Report of the Auditor General of Canada, Managing Departments for Results and Managing Horizontal Issues for Results. |
| | (viii) | A commitment to sustainable funding should be made in order to ensure that pilot projects can be properly tested over a sufficient period of time. |
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