Roseau River First Nation's youth now have access in their community to the same support and services as other children across Canada.

Roseau River recently adopted the Jordan's Principle Initiative and is running it out of the communities previous daycare facility at the Ginew Wellness Centre. The program is used to support children living on reserve with special needs.

The program was developed after a financial dispute between government and departments costing a young boy his life. Executive Director at Ginew Wellness Centre says Jordan was a boy with special needs.

Jordan's Principle resolves situations where governments and departments cannot agree about who should pay for services and supports to meet the needs of a First Nations child, covers the costs for health and social services and supports for First Nations children in situations when a First Nations child does not have access to a publicly-funded program that is usually available to other children, and facilitates access to health and social service and supports for all First Nations children without delay or disruption.

Roseau River Case Coordinator Joanne Lariviere says the need in the community for a program like this is high with over fifty kids being identified as having a special need, and it's been a long time coming.

Case Coordinator Joanne Lariviere, R.S.W, Child Development Worker Genny Henry and Child Development Worker Greg Seenie"Any kids with special needs living on reserve qualify for the Jordan initiative no matter if it is short or long term that they need. We have about twenty kids already involved and they never miss an appointment," explained Lariviere.

Lariviere added that the program is currently up and running with some rehabilitative therapies.

"We help with transportation to appointments, special education support, mental health, respite, and long-term care."

One of the new policy activities put in place to support Jordan's Principle is the Child-First Initiative. This initiative aims to meet the needs of all First Nations children when there are gaps in existing programs and immediately provide health and social services and supports.

As of February 23, 2017, a total of 3,305 requests for services and supports were approved for First Nations children. These were been funded by the commitment of up to $382.5 million over three years for the Child-First Initiative.

Gosselin says until now there were no programs that compared to Jordan's Initiative until now.

" The funding comes from Health Canada after the federal government put in over 380-million nationwide for the program. We submitted a proposal to be a part of the program and we were approved and now we are getting an entire year of funding."

Gosselin added Jordan's Principle is more than just a program and has opened many doors for the community.

" We are looking forward to working more with The Regional Health Authority now that jurisdictional barriers are coming down. We also now have an agreement with Southern Health and their staff can now come on reserve to help for the first time. We've had palliative care,  cancer care, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and mental health therapists things we have never had before Jordan's Principle is a change that will be marked in history," explained Gosselin.

Lariviere said the program is just getting started and will continue to grow. An open house, a website, and more programs are just a few of the things children from Roseau River First Nations can look forward to.

"The response has been amazing. We have lots of early years kids involved already we would like to see more youth between the ages of 12 and 18. Parents attending appointments have shown great appreciation for the programming not having to drive all over Manitoba to try and get their child the services they need," said Lariviere.

On December 12, 2007, the House of Commons unanimously supported a Private Member's motion. The motion focused on adopting an approach that addresses First Nations children's needs first.