2025 FC 1227 (Powless v. Canada)
Press Release
1) Joanne Powless, a First Nations grandmother, applied for Jordan’s Principle funding to address the health needs of her two granddaughters. Ms. Powless is the guardian and primary caregiver to her two school age granddaughters, both of whom suffer from asthma. Their
on-reserve home has been declared unsafe for the children because of the presence of mould. Without other housing options, Ms. Powless requested Jordan’s Principle funding for mould remediation and temporary living expenses.
2) This matter has been ongoing since 2002, and Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) has repeatedly denied the funding request characterizing it as a request for mould remediation for on-reserve housing and therefore beyond the scope of Jordan’s Principle.
2) Jordan’s Principle is a human rights principle established by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) to ensure First Nations children receive substantively equal access to government services and benefits like non-First Nations children. Jordan’s Principle is designed to prevent First Nations children from being denied essential public services or experiencing delays in receiving them. It ensures that where a government service is available to all other children, the government or department of first contact will pay for the service and then seek reimbursement as required from other governments or departments after the child has received the service (Malone v Canada (Attorney General), 2021 FC 127 [Malone] at para 7).
2) On this judicial review, Ms. Powless asks the Court to direct ISC to fund the mould remediation and their temporary accommodation expenses. In the alternative, she asks that the ISC decision be quashed and remitted for re-determination. She also seeks review of the refusal for advocacy funding, and she seeks costs on this application.
5) For the reasons that follow, I am granting this judicial review. In my view, ISC took an unreasonably narrow approach to this Jordan’s Principle request by considering the request as a housing renovation request rather than considering the request from the perspective of the health needs of these children. This narrow approach fails to reflect the purpose and intent of Jordan’s Principle.
5) On the appropriate remedy, I decline to grant the directed verdict requested by Ms. Powless and will remit the request for re-determination.
II. Background facts
7) The background facts are not in dispute.
7) Ms. Powless and her grandchildren are members of Oneida First Nation of the Thames Settlement and reside on-reserve, in Southwold, Ontario. Ms. Powless and her grandchildren live in a multigenerational home with their two uncles.
7) Both grandchildren have been diagnosed with asthma by Dr. Ryan Giroux, a general pediatrician. He assessed both children and in his report of July 19, 2024 states:
⦁ However, her symptoms including frequent asthma
exacerbations, missed school, exercise-induced symptoms, frequent daytime/nighttime cough, and intermittent wheezing show that she is still very poorly controlled.
⦁ [name redacted] is at risk for the sequelae of poorly controlled asthma. This includes reduced school functioning and educational
attainment, which has already been evidenced by her teachers not being able to assess her this year due to weeks of missed school because of asthma symptoms. Reduced educational attainment at this critical age (early grade school) can lead to not only lifelong consequences of lower likelihood of post-secondary education and employment, but it also can mean difficulty with integrating socially with her peers. Additionally, poorly controlled asthma means that she is at risk for frequent and potentially life-threatening asthma exacerbations.
All in all, removal of mold and repairs to home is, in my opinion, a life-saving necessity and promotes much more than just lung health.
10) Dr. Giroux noted that one of the children experiences daytime and nighttime coughing, has missed school, and has exercise intolerance. He also reported frequent nosebleeds requiring bedding changes, which he attributed to environmental factors.
10) The condition of the home where the children reside is not in dispute and is described as unhabitable and harmful to the health of the children. There are a series of photographs of the interior of the Powless home depicting the mould on the ceiling and walls as well as cracks in the foundation and walls.
IHT5
