The House of Commons of Canada adopted Jordan’s Principle in 2007 to ensure First Nations children have equitable access to government services. In February 2025, Ottawa tightened the rules on what qualifies and the effects were swift.

Figures filed at a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal hearing in January 2026 show that in Ontario, funding for educational supports under the principle was drastically cut after the change. In a six-month period, it fell from $122 million in 2024 to $1.2 million in 2025. The number of approved requests dropped precipitously, from 2,608 to 66.

Families, service providers and communities across the country have been scrambling to pay for essential services such as educational assistants, crisis teams, speech therapy and suicide-prevention programs.

Meanwhile, public attention has been fixed on the approved requests that look hardest to defend, such as modelling headshots and gaming consoles.

So does Jordan’s Principle need to be restructured, or does it need sustained funding? Perhaps the answer is both.

A child caught between governments

Jordan’s Principle honours Jordan River Anderson, a First Nations child from Norway House Cree Nation in Manitoba. Jordan was born in 1999 with a complex medical condition requiring substantial support. Because the federal and Manitoba governments disputed who should pay for his care at home, he spent his life in a Winnipeg hospital instead of at home with his family. He died in 2005, at age 5.

Advocates fought to........

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