OTTAWA – The Federal Court says Indigenous Services Canada acted unreasonably to deny funding for mould removal in a house for two First Nations children with asthma under its Jordan’s Principle program.
The principle stipulates that when a First Nations child needs health, social or educational services they are to receive them from the government first approached, with questions about final jurisdiction worked out afterward.
It’s named after Jordan River Anderson of Norway House Cree Nation in Manitoba who died at five years old without ever leaving the hospital because federal and provincial governments couldn’t decide who should pay for his at-home care.
Joanne Powless, the children’s grandmother, has been trying to get the department to fund mould remediation in their on-reserve home since 2022 under that principle, but was repeatedly denied despite the health effects on the two children.
The Federal Court says the department took an “unreasonably narrow approach” to the request by considering it as a housing renovation, rather than to meet the health needs of the two children.
The judge says the department’s decision to deny the request “fails to reflect the purpose and intent of Jordan’s Principle,” and is ordering Indigenous Services Canada to review the decision.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 14, 2025.
