By Catherine Morrison Ottawa and First Nations faced a deadline Monday to present the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal with their respective plans to reform the First Nations child welfare system — the latest step in a lengthy fight that has stretched nearly 20 years. The August tribunal order that mandated the proposals came nine years after it concluded the federal government had discriminated against First Nations children by underfunding the on-reserve child welfare system. That followed a joint 2007 human rights complaint filed by the Assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society. Progress on a child welfare agreement to reform the system stalled last year when First Nations twice rejected a $47.8-billion deal they said did not go far enough to protect kids. The…
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