Sunday, June 06, 2021

CANADA
O'Regan says 30 million trees to be planted this year, two billion by 2030


© Tina Lovgreen/CBC
The federal government says it still plans to plant two billion trees by 2030 to help sequester carbon.

A Liberal campaign pledge to plant two billion trees by 2030 finally seems to have taken root.

Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan announced Friday that 30 million trees will be planted this season out of the two billion his government promised to plant over the next 10 years during the 2019 federal election campaign.

That goal would see Canada plant an extra 200 million trees each year, which the government says will eventually help to sequester carbon.

To get two billion trees into the ground over a decade, around 33 million would have to be planted each month during each tree-planting season. Over nine years, that grows to about 37 million trees.

But the actual rollout of the program won't be as straightforward.

Because seedlings need time to grow and the project needs nursery space, land to plant and some sort of monitoring to ensure the trees survive, O'Regan said, the number of trees planted will grow progressively each year.

A graph provided by his office shows his department expects to have planted 500 million trees by 2026, and then more than one billion in total by 2028.

"There'll be significant ramp-up," he said. "It takes time to get those seeds in place. This is a long-term play for us though, so it is well worth the wait."


Tories say Liberals have no plan (SAYS THE PARTY WITH NO PLAN)


The government has budgeted around $3 billion for the program, but the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) suggests the final price tag for the endeavour will be closer to double that.

A briefing note to the deputy minister of Natural Resources Canada about the discrepancy — released to The Canadian Press under federal access-to-information law — says the department will look to its planting partners to help fund the program. O'Regan's office confirmed that aspect of the plan.

"The (PBO) report did not mention that the government will seek substantial cost-sharing by its partners, such as provinces and territories, cities and landowners, among others," the document reads.

Conservative environment and climate change critic Dan Albas said the Liberal government has yet to provide details on how it's going to plant two billion trees over the decade.

"It's clear that the Trudeau Liberals have no plan," he said in a media statement Friday. "It took the Liberal government over a year before they even announced a plan to plant trees."
Cape Breton First Nation reaches understanding with DFO to set
 700 lobster traps


© Provided by The Canadian PressCape Breton First Nation reaches
 understanding with DFO to set 700 lobster traps

ST. PETER'S, N.S. — A Cape Breton First Nation has successfully negotiated an interim "understanding" with the federal Fisheries Department that will allow it to set a total of 700 lobster traps beginning Saturday.

The arrangement announced Friday means Indigenous fishers from the Potlotek First Nation will be able to conduct a so-called "moderate livelihood" fishery, with the band planning to allow up to 70 traps per boat.

The community cites a 1999 Supreme Court decision as allowing it to fish for a moderate livelihood, though the court later clarified that Ottawa could regulate the treaty right for conservation and other limited purposes.

The band's fishers have said they have struggled this year after Fisheries officers seized their harvest and gear.

However, federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan said in a release Friday the band's fishing will be allowed during the existing season in harvesting districts off the coast of Cape Breton and in Bras d'Or Lake, and they will be permitted to sell their catch.

She also said that overall, the Indigenous harvest will not add to the total number of traps in the lobster fishing areas in question, known as 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31a.

Potlotek Chief Wilbert Marshall said in a news release Friday the arrangement is for this season only and "more discussion will need to be had on future seasons and fisheries."

He also said that in the band's view the initial allocation of 700 traps isn't considered sufficient.

“We didn’t sign any agreements – I told my community members that we wouldn’t. Through talks, we were able to come to an understanding with (the Fisheries Department),” the chief said.

“We know that this is an interim measure, but it is a good first step," he added.

Jordan also referred to the understanding as an initial step, saying it demonstrates Ottawa's willingness to listen to the band's needs while maintaining a sustainable fishery.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Nunavummiut demand justice in homicide of 'Grizzlies' actor Emerald MacDonald


© Provided by The Canadian PressNunavummiut demand justice in homicide of 'Grizzlies' actor Emerald MacDonald

IQALUIT — About 30 people gathered in a school parking lot as wet snow fell to demand justice for Emerald MacDonald, the 24-year-old actress who was found dead at a cabin outside Kugluktuk on May 3.

RCMP initially called MacDonald's death suspicious, but have since ruled it a homicide.

MacDonald played the role of Miranda in the 2018 Canadian sports drama film "The Grizzlies," based on the true story of a lacrosse team in Kugluktuk, a hamlet of about 1,500 people and the westernmost community in Nunavut.

Police say MacDonald, also known as "Baboo," was last seen buying supplies in the community on April 30 before she travelled to her family's cabin by snowmobile.

RCMP have not provided an update on the killing since May 20 but said they are still investigating and are asking the public to come forward with any information that may help.

Chief Supt. Amanda Jones told The Canadian Press that investigators from the territory's major crimes unit are in Kugluktuk. She said she couldn't provide more details.

"It is under investigation and we're very active in continuing with that investigation," Jones said.

As the wind picked up, the group walked to Iqaluit's RCMP detachment. Some linked arms while others pulled each other close, slowing their footsteps as they embraced and wiped away tears.

As they reached the police building, a woman pulled a single pair of running shoes from a cloth bag and gently put them on the concrete step in memory of MacDonald.

Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, co-producer of "The Grizzlies," spoke to the crowd.

"We chose to come here because we want to trust that the RCMP are doing a good job with the investigation, although we want to trust the RCMP are doing a good job with the investigation, we all know that we can’t necessarily trust that,” Arnaquq-Baril said.

"We want Baboo's family to know that they're loved, that she's loved."

Others in the crowd spoke about their favourite memories of MacDonald and also called on the RCMP to make progress on the investigation.

"She didn't want to die. She shouldn't have died,"

"Justice for Emerald," people in the crowd shouted in unison.

Calvin Pedersen, the legislature member for Kugluktuk, told the assembly earlier this week that residents of the community have hung red dresses outside their homes in solidarity with MacDonald's family.

"I urge anyone who may know something to contact the Kugluktuk RCMP," Pedersen said.

"Baboo's voice and passion made her community very proud of her. This is a terrible loss for our town."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2021.

___

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship

Emma Tranter, The Canadian Press

Royal British Columbia Museum working with Indigenous groups on school records


© Provided by The Canadian Press

VICTORIA — The acting head of the Royal British Columbia Museum's archives says the institution will work closely with Indigenous groups as it processes and documents records from a religious order that ran residential schools across the province.

Genevieve Weber says the museum has about 250 boxes of materials, a third of which relate to residential schools run by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

She says the records range from financial statements and letters to diaries of daily life, known as a Codex Historicus.

She says the museum started to receive and process the records in 2019, and has been reaching out to Indigenous communities mentioned in them to discuss how they would like to proceed in terms of disclosure.

Weber says the focus is to determine with Indigenous communities, such as the Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc in Kamloops, what personal details in the records they are comfortable releasing so as not to cause further harm.

She says the records should be available to researchers by 2022.

Video: RCMP investigating former residential school site in Kamloops, B.C. (cbc.ca)
Duration 3:57


“In the past, when we’ve done engagement, it's normally after the records have been available to the general public for some time. But we felt it was really important, due to the sensitive nature of these records, to reach out to Indigenous communities first,” Weber said.

The First Nation announced last week that it had found what are believed to be the remains of 215 children at the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Since then, there have been calls for better access to records from the schools across the country. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also urged the Catholic Church to release more documents on Friday.

The Oblates ran 10 residential schools across British Columbia.

Father Ken Thorson, the provincial superior of the Oblates, said the organization had looked at making the records available in 2015 but the effort stalled.

Weber said having access to the records has already resulted in some developments in identifying residential school students. She travelled to Kamloops, where she was able to share digitized photo albums and listen to residential school survivors.

"We were able to identify a number of people in the album who had not been identified," she said. "Instead of having a photo album with no names identified, we now have an album with about 80 people identified in it."

— By Nick Wells in Vancouver.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2021.

The Canadian Press
Foster care is modern-day residential school system: Inuit MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq

Teresa Wright - 
cbc.ca- Friday

© Sara Frizzell/CBCNunavut MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq says the Liberals "can choose to support efforts toward real change or they can join governments of the past in perpetuating violence against Indigenous Peoples."

In the wake of the tragic reported discovery of an unmarked burial site in Kamloops, B.C., the Liberals are facing tough questions about ongoing harms being suffered by Indigenous children in the child welfare system — a system an Inuit MP says is no different from residential schools.

Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, who represents Nunavut, said she has seen far too many people in her territory dying by suicide and children being taken from their homes and placed in the child welfare system.

She took issue with politicians this week portraying the horrors inflicted on Indigenous children by the Canadian government as "historic wrongs" when speaking of the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation's discovery of unmarked graves believed to contain the remains of 215 children on the grounds of the Kamloops Residential School.

"Colonization is not over. It has a new name. Children are still being separated from their communities. Foster care is the new residential school system. The suicide epidemic is the new form of Indigenous genocide," Qaqqaq said in an emotional address in the House of Commons Thursday.

She shared bone-chilling details of Inuit families in her territory left to clean the remains of a loved one who died by suicide.

"The residential schools and genocide waged against us has evolved into the foster care system and the suicide epidemic we see today," she said. "Indigenous genocide is a 21st century problem."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and several of his cabinet ministers acknowledged Friday that First Nations, Inuit and Metis children are indeed still being taken from their families in disproportionately high numbers and placed in foster care.

Trudeau called this an "unacceptable" situation that must end.

"The ongoing removal of kids from their communities to live with foster families, to go to other cities or towns where they lose their culture, they lose their language, they lose their identity, needs to stop," Trudeau said.

Focused on intervention


Since the passage of Bill C-92 in 2019 — a bill that was drafted to counter the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in foster care — Ottawa has been working to empower Indigenous communities to keep their at-risk children and youth in their home communities with their own language and culture, Trudeau said.

And yet, Ottawa's Indigenous child welfare legislation has not stopped First Nations children from being placed in foster care, said Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller. He called it a "broken child care system."

Video: What is Ottawa doing about the legacy of residential schools? (cbc.ca)

Duration 2:42


While acknowledging Ottawa's role, both he and Trudeau also pointed to provincial systems, which are largely responsible for administering social services programming such as child welfare.

These provincial systems are still far too focused on intervention when they encounter a child or youth at risk, Miller said.

"There are still children being removed, taken into care and dying, and the system is still one that is focused on intervention as opposed to prevention in a way that does not reflect the inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples," Miller said.

"If this is something people think will take a short period of time, they're not understanding the gravity of the situation. It will take the full participation of provinces that run a number of these child care systems, the transformation of their own laws and the lifting up, foremost, of Indigenous laws across the country."

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett also acknowledged the removal of Indigenous children from their parents and their placement in homes away from their communities is a current reality for too many Indigenous families and a "present danger to children."

Indigenous children account for 52.2 per cent of children in foster care in private homes, according to 2016 census data. Indigenous children make up only seven per cent of the youth population in Canada.
'We want this stopped': Bennett

"There are more kids in care now than there were at the height of residential schools and it's unacceptable and harmful," Bennett said.

"We want this stopped and we are working very hard with the self-governing nations as well as the other nations,."

Ottawa is not only investing and trying to transform the child welfare system but is also taking steps to prevent children from ending up in crisis situations in the first place, the ministers said.

Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal pointed to $250 million being spent to build four schools in Northern Manitoba to allow First Nations kids living in remote areas to attend school locally, rather than having to leave their communities — something that has been identified as a trigger that can lead to problems later on.

Criminal justice reforms proposed by the Liberals to repeal some mandatory minimum sentences — as a measure to stop the over-incarceration of Indigenous people across Canada — is also meant to keep families from being separated, said Justice Minister David Lametti.

Those reforms are contained in Bill C-22, which is getting a rough ride in the House of Commons and may not pass before MPs rise for the summer break later this month.

Qaqqaq said she is aware of all these measures but called on Ottawa to do more.

"I am here in an institution that has tried to eliminate my people for the last 70 years, standing up to say that the federal government is responsible for the ongoing colonization happening," she said during her speech.

"Acting is in the hands of this government. They can choose — they can choose — to support efforts toward real change or they can join governments of the past in perpetuating violence against Indigenous Peoples."

The Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help residential school survivors and their relatives suffering from trauma invoked by memories of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.
Forced and coerced sterilization of Indigenous women ongoing, Senate report reveals


© Provided by The Canadian PressForced and coerced sterilization of Indigenous women ongoing, Senate report reveals

OTTAWA — She was screaming that she "didn't want this," but it happened anyway.

A Cree woman had just given birth to her sixth child in Saskatoon, when she was presented with a consent form for her sterilization.

"She tried to wheel herself away from the operating room, but the doctor wheeled her right back in the direction of the same operating room," says a new government report, which details the woman's sterilization in 2001.

"When she was in the operating room, she kept asking the doctor if she was done yet. Finally, he said, 'Yes. Cut, tied and burnt. There, nothing is getting through that.'"

The woman, referred to as S.A.T., is one of 16 women who shared their experiences about their sterilizations in the report by a Senate committee on human rights.

The report, released Thursday, says coerced sterilization of Indigenous women is not a matter of the past and still happens in Canada today.

The committee is urging the federal government to further investigate the "heinous" practice by compiling data and come up with solutions to bring it to an end.

It says the precise number of Indigenous women subjected to forced or coerced sterilization in Canada is unclear.

It also argues that the practice hurts other marginalized and vulnerable groups in the country, including Black women and other people of colour.


Most of the women interviewed for the report were coercively sterilized between 2005 and 2010. The committee says it is aware of a case of forced sterilization as recent as in 2019.

"Some of the Indigenous women who were forced or coerced into sterilization live on reserves in remote areas. Hospitals are often a long distance away and require significant travel – sometimes by air," the report says.

"Away from their family and communities to give birth, many Indigenous women experience language and cultural barriers. Many women are not given adequate information or support to understand and to be informed of their rights, including their sexual and reproductive rights."

Until 1972, Alberta had a law requiring the forced or coerced sterilization of people considered "mentally defective." In British Columbia, the same law existed until 1973.

"Persons deemed 'mentally defective' were not alone as targets – Eastern Europeans as well as Inuit, First Nations and Métis people were also disproportionately targeted and sterilized," the report says.


Karen Stote, an assistant professor of women and gender studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, says in the report that despite the repealing of provincial eugenics laws, forced or coerced sterilization of Indigenous women continued in federally operated "Indian hospitals."

About 1,150 Indigenous women were sterilized in these hospitals over a 10-year period up until the early 1970s, says the report.

"There was 'a climate of racism and paternalism leading to the view that sterilization was for some women’s own good,"" Stote says in the report.

"These attitudes and beliefs continue to underpin health policy today and contribute to the practice of coerced and forced sterilization."

The chair of the Senate committee on human rights, Salma Ataullahjan, said the federal government needs to study the issue further.

"The prevalence of this horrific practice is both underreported and underestimated," she said in a news release.

"The committee is deeply concerned that, along with Indigenous women, other vulnerable and marginalized groups in Canada are affected by forced and coerced sterilization, including women with disabilities, racialized women, intersex children and institutionalized persons," added deputy committee chair, Wanda Thomas Bernard.

"Parliamentarians must understand the full scope of this problem if we are to initiate effective and meaningful solutions."

The office of the federal health minister did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 3, 2021.

-- By Fakiha Baig in Edmonton

___

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

The Canadian
RHETORICAL QUESTION
The House: Is it past time Canada had an Indigenous governor general?


Chris Hall - CBC- JUNE 5,2021

© Nick Perry/Associated Press
Cindy Kiro, left, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, right, walk together through the Parliament Building Monday, May 24, 2021, in Wellington, New Zealand. Kiro was named as New Zealand's next governor-general — the first Indigenous Maori woman appointed to the role.

The federal cabinet minister leading the search for a new governor general says background checks on the short list of candidates are nearly finished.

But Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc isn't saying how many names will be sent to the prime minister, or whether the search committee has been instructed to include a nominee with an Indigenous background.

"I think it's fair to say that in the terms of reference that we made public around the advisory group ... the prime minister asked the group to consider the diversity of the country and to look at potential candidates who represent that diversity," LeBlanc said in an interview airing Saturday on CBC's The House.

The minister made a point of saying that Natan Obed, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, is a member of the advisory panel.


© CBC Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Natan Obed.

"And I think it's fair to say that we were not insensitive to the importance of considering Indigenous candidacies as well," he said.

The largely ceremonial vice-regal position has been vacant now for more than four months. Former astronaut Julie Payette resigned the post in January after an independent report said she had presided over a toxic workplace at Rideau Hall.

The third-party review was triggered by a CBC News story quoting a dozen confidential sources who claimed Payette and her former chief of staff, Assunta Di Lorenzo, mistreated staff.

Anxious to avoid another appointment that ends badly, the government made background checks into potential candidates more extensive than usual this time.

Video: Indigenous Services officials comment on AG report reviewing response to COVID-19 (cbc.ca)

LeBlanc acknowledged in the interview that he got ahead of himself back in January when he told CBC the search for Payette's successor would only take a matter of weeks.

"The good news — and we've considered dozens and dozens of potential names — the good news is our work is largely finished, we're concluding what I hope would be the final week or so of the normal background security checks, vetting that will take place by senior officials of the government," he said.

"So we're very confident that when we do give the prime minister the short list that he asked us to prepare, all of those important and necessary checks and vetting processes will be done."

When asked how many names are on the short list, LeBlanc refused to be pinned down and joked that the number is somewhere between one and ten.

Canada has never had an Indigenous governor general. Some observers have suggested in the past that such an appointment would be an important symbolic gesture.

Others, including First Nations author Robert Jago, argued back when Payette was appointed in 2017 that an Indigenous appointment would be little more than window-dressing at a time when so many Indigenous issues remain unresolved.

Last month, New Zealand appointed the first Indigenous woman to serve as governor general. Dame Cindy Kiro, a well-known children's advocate, is the third Māori to hold the post. The first, Sir Paul Reeves, was appointed in 1985.

The federal government is under enormous pressure right now to show some progress on Crown-Indigenous reconciliation — in the wake of this week's reports on undocumented deaths at the Kamloops Indian Residential School and fresh calls for Ottawa to move faster on implementing the recommendations of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.


© Brian Morris/CBCA memorial for children who died at a Kamloops residential school on Parliament Hill.

"It's long past time for a indigenous governor-general," said the inquiry's chief commissioner Marion Buller, who added she believes the public would support such an appointment.

"I think it would make a difference because that person would have the opportunity to cast a light on Indigenous issues in Canada and serve as a bridge-builder to a new relationship."

Trudeau has promised to rebuild the relationship with Indigenous communities since taking office, and to take steps toward meaningful reconciliation.

LeBlanc told The House the events of the past week are among many troubling and difficult moments on that journey.

"So obviously there is a heightened awareness," he said. "The time is long overdue for governments, plural, to look at the diversity of the country, including obviously the contribution of exceptional Canadians from Indigenous communities that can serve across the board in positions of leadership in the public and private sector."


N.L. premier vows change: coat of arms description calls Indigenous people 'savages'


ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The Newfoundland and Labrador government has decided to change the official description of the province's 400-year-old coat of arms, which includes a reference to Indigenous people as "savages."

Premier Andrew Furey said a formal notice was submitted to the legislature on Thursday following a discussion earlier in the week with Indigenous leaders.

The Liberal premier said his weekly discussion with Indigenous leaders initially focused on the terrible news from Kamloops, B.C., where last week an Indigenous band reported finding what are believed to be the remains of 215 children at a former residential school.

"The Indigenous leaders are going to reflect on what it means in their communities, and where we want to go in terms of investigating residential schools," Furey said Thursday, referring to the fact that the province once supported five church-run residential schools — four in Labrador and one at the northern tip of the island.

Furey said the discussion then turned to the province's coat of arms.

"The description of the coat of arms in our legislation still refers to savages," Furey said. "We don't think that is at all appropriate. We gave notice today in the house to change that."

The premier said the next step is public consultations. "We'll see where the conversations go," he said.

In June 2018, the governing Liberals said they would drop the archaic description and redesign the coat of arms after Indigenous leaders and the party's own Indigenous Peoples Commission called for changes.

The coat of arms features two Indigenous figures in traditional garb, standing on either side of a red shield. In the official description, the Beothuk warriors are described as "savages."

Qalipu First Nation Chief Brendan Mitchell said everyone who attended the virtual meeting on Wednesday agreed that the insulting term had to be dropped.

"They're all in favour of changing the description," the Mi'kmaq leader said in an interview Friday from Corner Brook. "For me, taking the name 'savage' out of there has to done. That's an unfair statement to make .... We didn't get into a lengthy discussion on the actual text."

The meeting included representatives from other Mi'kmaq communities, the Innu Nation and Labrador's Inuit.

When the issue first surfaced in 2018, Labrador politician Randy Edmunds said the Beothuk must be represented on the coat of arms to honour an Indigenous group that was wiped out after European settlers encroached on their land, resulting in deadly conflicts and the introduction of new diseases.

Shawnadithit, the last known surviving Beothuk, died of tuberculosis in St. John's in June 1829.


Edmunds, an Inuk who was defeated in the 2019 provincial election, said other Indigenous groups should also be recognized.

The original coat of arms was granted by royal warrant from King Charles I of England in 1637. At the time, the island of Newfoundland was known as Terra Nova, and it wasn't yet joined with Labrador. The heraldic symbol was actually given to a business syndicate known as the Company of Adventurers to Newfoundland, which seemed to have little knowledge of the area.

Aside from the coarse description of the Beothuk, the coat of arms includes a depiction of a prancing elk, hovering between the two warriors. The animals are not native to Newfoundland and Labrador.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2021.

— By Michael MacDonald in Halifax.

The Canadian Press
SACRED BURIAL GROUND
Old indigenous bones dug up beside Harry and Meghan's California home


© Provided by National Pos
tBritain's Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, speak with Oprah Winfrey in an interview that was broadcast in North America on March 7, 2021.

What are being described as “very old” human remains of a young adult — dating back more than 10,000 years — were found just metres away from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s US$15-million, 18,000-square-foot mansion in Montecito, Calif.


Santa Barbara sheriff’s officials said the discovery was made at a metre’s depth while landscapers were doing construction last week on a road next to the couple’s estate.

Early findings by a forensic anthropologist indicate the bones could be those of the Chumash people, who lived in the area for nearly 11,000 years.

In 1901, a 127-acre reserve was established for the Chumash, which now houses 5,000 people.


Authorities are believed to be talking with the local Native American commission about the find.

The exclusive neighbourhood 145 kilometres north of Los Angeles is home to many celebrities, including including Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres.



UNANIMOUS
Supreme Court of Canada sides with mother seeking unpaid child support


© Provided by The Canadian Press 
Supreme Court of Canada 

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada stressed the importance of full financial disclosure by those responsible for paying child support in dismissing the appeal of a man who fell seriously behind in his obligations.

In its unanimous ruling Friday, the high court said Felice Colucci is on the hook for $170,000 in support payments despite his contention the amount should be much lower.

Colucci and wife Lina divorced in 1996 after 13 years of marriage, and the mother assumed custody of two daughters, who were eight and six at the time.

The father was required to pay $115 a week per child in support but two years later he requested a reduction on the basis his income had dropped. However, he provided no financial disclosure to document the circumstances and the parties did not come to a new agreement.

The father's support obligations ended in 2012 when the daughters completed their post-secondary education and found employment.

But from 1998 onward he made few if any voluntary support payments and only limited monies were collected through enforcement. Further, the father's whereabouts were unknown as the amount owing grew.

By 2016, the man's child-support arrears with interest totalled about $170,000.

At this point, he applied to retroactively reduce child support, saying he had moved to the United States from 2000 to 2005, earning about US$25,000 annually, before heading to Italy to care for his mother.

However, he provided little financial documentation to support his case.


Even so, a judge reduced the arrears owing to $41,642 in keeping with the father's lower income as well as new federal child-support guidelines introduced shortly after the divorce.

The Ontario Court of Appeal overturned the decision and ordered the father to pay the full amount owing, prompting his appeal to the Supreme Court.

In its decision, the top court said the child-support system depends upon adequate, accurate and timely financial disclosure by those obliged to make payments.

"Simply stated, disclosure is the linchpin on which fair child support depends and the relevant legal tests must encourage the timely provision of necessary information," Justice Sheilah Martin wrote on behalf of the court.

It is the payer who knows and controls the information needed to calculate the appropriate amount of support, she wrote. It would therefore be "illogical, unfair and contrary to the child’s best interests" to make the recipient solely responsible for policing the payer’s ongoing compliance with their support obligation.

"Full and frank disclosure is also a precondition to good faith negotiation," Martin wrote. "Without it, the parties cannot stand on the equal footing required to make informed decisions and resolve child support disputes outside of court."

Citing these principles, Martin set out a framework for determining a payer's application for a retroactive decrease in support based on a significant change in circumstances.

With regard to the Colucci case, she concluded the revised federal guidelines did amount to a noteworthy change, but the father's lack of communication and insufficient disclosure doomed his application.

The father "showed no willingness to support the children, who suffered hardship as a result of his failure to fulfil his obligations," Martin wrote.

She found Lina Colucci was left to shoulder the financial burden of raising and supporting the children on her own, and the daughters incurred considerable debt in pursuing their education due to the lack of support from their father.

"His conduct shows bad faith efforts to evade the enforcement of a court order."

The high court also found the father had not demonstrated he will be unable to pay now or in the future even with a flexible payment plan.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2021.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press