Jordan’s Principle is money distributed by Indigenous Services Canada; it is available for all First Nations children in Canada. The namesake of this fund is Jordan River Anderson, a child from Norway House Cree Nation in Manitoba. Jordan passed away in hospital at age 5, having never gotten to live at home as the Federal and Provincial Governments couldn’t agree upon who should pay for his home-based care. (Source: Honouring Jordan River Anderson).
Jordan’s Principle is now a commitment from the federal government that First Nations children will “get the products, services and supports they need, when they need them” (Source: Honouring Jordan River Anderson).
A child under the age of majority in their province or territory of residence can access Jordan’s Principle if they permanently reside in Canada and if the child meets one of the following criteria:
(Source: Submit a Request under Jordan’s Principle)
Jordan’s Principle funding can be used for a range of services. Jordan’s Principle acknowledges that each child has unique needs, so it is relatively flexible about which services to meet those needs it can cover.
Most notably, it is available for tutoring, so LDS’ RISE One-to-one instruction program is covered entirely by Jordan’s Principle, meaning families eligible can pay $0 for our program. Please consult “letting LDS know” to learn what we need from you to use Jordan’s Principle for your LDS Services.
It is strongly suggested that you complete your application and apply with the help of a Service Coordinator. You can connect with a Jordan’s Principle Service Coordinator in your area by email at jordansprinciplehub@acc-society.bc.ca or by phone at 236-330-5510. You can find your local BC Service Hub Coordinator here, or your Canada-wide Service Coordinator here.
You will need a printed and signed application and to include the following eligibility information:
Once you have all the required documents, you and your service coordinator can initiate the application process
You or your Service Coordinator will email a completed and signed Jordan’s Principle Request Form, with the eligibility documents, to this e-mail (principedejordancb-bcjordansprinciple@sac-isc.gc.ca)
Once Jordan’s Principle office safely receives your application, you’ll receive a confirmation email with your Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) case number “ISC— —” and your application number(s) “ITM——“. Each individual service you apply for will have a different 6-digit ITM number.
You and your service coordinator will be notified by email once a decision is reached on your application. Your Service Provider (e.g. LDS if you’re claiming Tutoring with LDS) may not be notified, so it’s important you make sure you let your service provider know directly once you receive a “Notification of Decision” email. This email contains the information the service provider needs to bill the service to Jordan’s Principle.
Once your service provider has the confirmation information, they will be able to bill your service directly to Jordan’s Principle. This allows the billing to happen independently from your family, so your family can pay $0.
ARC Fund: Some service hubs will have an ARC Fund (Approved Request Contingency Fund) that they may approve the funds to be paid out through, so there’s no delay for the service provider receiving the money for the service once Jordan’s Principle approves the request.
At the time of writing, it can take many months after approval for service providers to be paid by Jordan’s Principle. As long as the ISC case # has been approved for the particular service ITM, Service Providers should rest assured that they will receive payment for those services eventually.
If you’ve let LDS know that you’ll be using Jordan’s Principle to cover sessions or a service, you will need to provide proof of application within two weeks of the start date of the service. We need proof as approval can take up to a year, which is a long time for a nonprofit to go without payment, so we at least need to know that payment will be coming to us eventually.
If you name the team member you’re working with at LDS as an authorized representative on your application, they’ll be able to check in directly with Jordan’s Principle on the status of your application. If you don’t, the LDS team will have to contact you or your representative to get any information about your application. It is your responsibility to keep LDS updated with your application, especially for those applications that end up taking a long time after LDS sessions have happened.
For many years, applicants of Jordan’s Principle have experienced complicated applications, long wait times to get approved, and continued waits to receive the approved funding.
First Nations Child and Family Caring Society highlighted these flaws in December 2023, when they filed a non-compliance motion against the Government of Canada in the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal “regarding the Government of Canada’s chronic and wilful failure to adhere to the Tribunal’s orders on Jordan’s Principle” (Source: First Nations Child and Family Caring Society).
In January 2025, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal published its ruling on this motion, and in February 2025, Indigenous Services Canada responded to this court case by announcing “changes to operating procedures” with the intention of providing more clarity and consistency around the processes and services available through Jordan’s Principle. (Source: Government of Canada).
These changes are listed on the government’s website in an operational bulletin update. Our understanding is that these updates shouldn’t impact how LDS students apply for Jordan’s Principle, and services rendered by LDS are still eligible to be covered by Jordan’s Principle funding.
– Alice Bromfield, Senior Manager, Programs
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