Grandmother challenges Ottawa's refusal to apply Jordan's Principle to renovate mouldy home

Isha Bhargava · CBC News

· Posted: May 15, 2025 9:34 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

A pistillate from Oneida Nation of the Thames is appealing a determination that denied funding to renovate a mould-contaminated location that she says contributed to terrible asthma symptoms successful her grandchildren. 

For 3 years, Joanne Powless who lives connected the territory westbound of London, Ont., has been asking Indigenous Services of Canada (ISC) to screen renovation costs of astir $200,000 to region mould and hole deteriorating ceilings and walls successful her home.

She's besides asking that six months of impermanent relocation costs beryllium covered, positive nutrient and idiosyncratic hygiene items for the family. 

The backing petition was made done a programme called Jordan's Principle, which is designed to guarantee Indigenous kids get the aesculapian attraction and societal services supports they request successful a timely manner, with the provinces and Ottawa later sorting retired jurisdictional battles implicit which is liable for the bill.

Despite documentation from the children's pediatrician, and contractors explaining the standard of the mould,  Ottawa rejected Powless' application twice. It stated that mould remediation services aren't disposable to the wide Canadian public, and truthful the backing is extracurricular the scope of Jordan's Principle criteria. 

"It's precise frustrating and I consciousness atrocious arsenic a grandma that I person to support surviving present with these 2 small girls. I privation I could conscionable prime up and permission and instrumentality them to a steadfast spot but I got obscurity other to instrumentality them," Powless, the girls' superior caregiver said. 

"This is the contented we unrecorded with each time and they get sick monthly ... my small girls shouldn't beryllium sick each month. I conscionable can't get anyplace with the application, I support getting the runaround."

On Thursday, Powless and her lawyer volition beryllium successful a national tribunal to record for a judicial reappraisal hopeful that a justice volition bid Ottawa to hole the location and marque it harmless for the children. 

"Home is expected to beryllium your safest spot of refuge and location is what's making Joanne's granddaughters sick," said lawyer David Taylor who is representing the family.

"This started erstwhile the children were five and 7 and present they're 8 and 10, that's a agelong clip that passes successful the beingness of a kid to unrecorded nether specified hard circumstances, and it's the benignant of happening we accidental should beryllium addressed immediately."

Powless said ISC's Environmental Public Health Officer told her the house wasn't decently ventilated from the opening and a ceiling leak during the pandemic caused mould to grow. She said she applied for renovation loans but they were ne'er approved. 

Decision was 'reasonable': Attorney General of Canada

The Attorney General of Canada has responded to the petition for a judicial review. In tribunal documents, it said the request should beryllium dismissed connected the ground that the determination was tenable and procedurally fair, and "the decision-maker provided cogent, clear, and intelligible reasons for the denial."

"In this case, ISC is not alert of immoderate existing authorities work disposable to the wide nationalist that presently funds mould remediation," it wrote. 

ISC uses substantive equality to measure whether requests should beryllium funded, which requires the responses to beryllium tailored to unique causes of a circumstantial group's historical disadvantage, geographical and taste needs and circumstances, its website states.

"Substantive equality is not an open-ended concept. Jordan's Principle does not make a carte blanche authorities wherever thing requested indispensable beryllium granted, nor does it acceptable up a concern wherever a pressing need, nevertheless valid, generated automatic approval," it wrote successful its ineligible response. 

But Taylor said the ISC's determination is inconsistent with the Human Rights Tribunal's ruling, which emphasizes that many services Indigenous children necessitate aren't disposable anyplace connected oregon disconnected the reserve, putting them astatine a further disadvantage. 

"The Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC) does person programs to code these kinds of services. It's conscionable the magnitude of backing provided is willfully inadequate to conscionable the kinds of terrible needs that we spot successful this case," Taylor said. 

Taylor noted a backing headdress for specified a programme done CMCH would person a capableness of $60,000, which wouldn't beryllium capable for Powless's renovation and relocation needs.

He added that Powless received a $25,000 indebtedness from the Oneida Nation, but due to the fact that she is simply a full-time caregiver surviving connected income supports, it volition beryllium a situation for her to wage it backmost later. 

For Powless, the last 3 years person been an uphill conflict and her granddaughters' asthma has resulted successful infirmary visits, forced them to regularly miss school and activities of a mean childhood, she said.

"There are respective homes successful this assemblage that are each boarded up and immoderate radical person abandoned their homes due to the fact that they couldn't get loans and there's nary wealth to hole these houses, truthful our radical don't person steadfast places to live," Powless said. 

"I anticipation the justice volition look astatine the lawsuit with unfastened eyes and spot the unjust happening. I conscionable request assistance for my grandchildren."

Oneida Nation of the Thames has had a lodging shortage for galore years, with issues of overcrowding an ongoing issue. It's besides had a boil-water advisory successful effect since September 2019 that became agelong word successful September 2020.