On August 6th, Canada issued letters to the Nations with Indigenous Governing Bodies (IGBs) and coordination agreements in place to facilitate the execution of their own laws.
It linked funding under CHRT Long Term Reform to future coordination agreement negotiations. Below are responses from Nations that aim to bring attention to some of the impacts of this new policy, that has NOT been communicated to all Nations. At the same time, the Chief of Tobique First Nation has lifted the cloak of secrecy off of their negotiation of a coordination agreement with the hopes that other Nations may benefit.
Taykwa Tagamou Nation responded almost immediately with an open letter, and Cold Lake First Nations voiced their support:
"I write publicly as Chief of Taykwa Tagamou Nation because the issue raised by Indigenous Services Canada's August 6, 2026 letter does not affect our Nation alone. It affects every Indigenous Governing Body that has exercised, is exercising, or is preparing to exercise inherent jurisdiction over its children under An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Metis children, youth and families (the Act)."
" In addition, Canada's actions remove the ability for Nations to access the mechanism put in place by Canada to exercise their inherent rights to care for their own children, in their own way. In multiple legal proceedings, and as recently as the multi-day hearings on the Ontario Final Agreement for the FNCFS program in that region, Canada has stated that if Nations don't want their families to be impacted by the FNCFS program they need only choose to exercise their jurisdiction. The letter of August 6th makes clear that the C-92 off-ramp from being under Canada's thumb has formally been closed."