More than three years after Canada’s auditor general issued an “urgent call to action” to improve Nunavut’s troubled child and family services, another follow-up report says little has been done to fix things, and the urgency remains.
The new report, released on Tuesday by the office of the auditor general of Canada, focuses on foster care in the territory and says “many of the fundamental weaknesses we identified previously remain.”
The report details how the territorial government is failing to keep proper tabs on children in care, to ensure their safety and well-being. Foster homes were not being properly screened or monitored, caregivers were not being given important health or background information about the children in their care, and there was little or infrequent training for new caregivers.
“Without these basic safeguards, the department could not consistently assure itself that children in foster care were safe and their needs were being met,” the 36-page report reads.
Deputy auditor general Andrew Hayes, speaking at a news conference in Iqaluit on Tuesday afternoon, said the issues are longstanding.
“The department has known about these issues for the better part of 15 years, since our first audit in 2011. We raised problems again in 2023,” he said.
“All across the territory, we’re seeing the same problem. So ultimately what we’re calling on right now is a whole-of-government approach, for the government to focus on supporting these children and families.”
He said there’s a “long road ahead” for the department to fix its many problems.
The audit focused on the period between November 2024 and this past March. Investigators reviewed documents, interviewed workers in the Department of Family Services and met with foster caregivers. They also reviewed a sample of 40 foster home files, while noting that a representative sample of all children in foster care couldn’t be obtained “because of the unreliability of the department’s data and reporting on children in foster care.”
The audit did not look at out-of-territory foster homes, or children and youth placed in those homes.
A view of Iqaluit in 2022. The new report from the auditor general focused on children in foster care in Nunavut, not those who have been placed in homes outside the territory. (David Gunn/CBC)
The report says that the department is required to be in monthly in-person contact with children in foster care and their caregivers, but that is rarely happening. It says in 90 per cent of the files auditors reviewed, there was no evidence of that required monthly contact.
It says that in five cases they looked at, there was no documented contact with a child for more than a year. In one case, the gap was more than 17 months.
In 98 per cent of the cases they reviewed, the department had failed to meet with foster caregivers at least monthly.
The auditors also found many cases where the department had failed to ensure that foster homes met minimum standards before placing children in those homes.
Department ‘unaware of the whereabouts of some children’
They also found the department continues to have a shaky grasp on just how many children are in foster care in Nunavut. Part of the problem, the report says, is the department’s failure to do the required check-ins with children in foster care, meaning officials were “unaware of the whereabouts of some children.”
It says the department launched a new information management system in 2023 to keep track of children in care, and that this “represented a significant modernization initiative for the department.” However, three years later, the system is still “not yet a reliable source of information,” the report says.
The auditors found that department employees were not always using the new system or even familiar with it, so the department continues to rely on manual lists — which are less efficient and more at risk of human error.
Accurate information about children in care is essential for planning and budgeting, the report says, and also for assessing whether there are risks to children in foster care.
“This information is important in legal proceedings where safety outcomes for children are considered,” the report reads.
The auditors also found problems with support payments for foster caregivers, with some foster homes being underpaid and others overpaid. The money is intended to help cover the ongoing cost of providing care, and the department spent about $9 million on those payments in 2025-2026.
In one case, a caregiver was underpaid approximately $100,000, representing a year’s worth of payments for multiple children. The caregiver was ultimately paid, but more than a year had passed since the initial placement of the children. In another case, the auditors found a caregiver had been underpaid about $10,000, and that it had not yet been resolved during the audit period.
‘Urgency’ remains over same problems
The audit report includes several recommendations for the Department of Family Services, including:
- The department should ensure its new information management system is accurate and up to date, “so that it is the single source of reliable information.”
- It should do regular reviews of its caregiver payment rates to ensure they’re fair and sufficient.
- It should review its payment system for caregivers and ensure a “single comprehensive source” for how those payments are determined and managed.
- It should establish clear criteria to identify whether a child in foster care has special needs.
- It should develop and implement a foster caregiver training program.
- It should ensure social workers document individual care plans when a child or youth is first placed in foster care.
Hayes says the department has agreed with all of the recommendations and has offered timelines for meeting them.
“Obviously it has been difficult to come back and audit Child and Family Services over 15 years and find the same problems,” Hayes said.
“Hopefully there is an urgency that is being recognized by the department, and that the Legislative Assembly members can use our report and the department’s responses to hold the department accountable for making the improvements that they’ve committed to.”
