The Saskatchewan government and First Nations are continuing their long-running jurisdictional dispute about who's responsible for First Nations foster children.
This week, acting provincial auditor Brian Atkinson said because the provincial goverment is responsible for the care provided by First Nations agencies to children on reserve, he wants to see reports on how that's working out.
However, out of 18 First Nations agencies providing services, there's only been one report provided, Atkinson said Wednesday.
"Because of this, I am unable to tell you whether the children in the Minister's care residing on reserves are protected and receiving proper care," Atkinson said in a news release.
One of the groups the government is having trouble getting information from is the Saskatoon Tribal Council.
Wayne Phaneuf, a senior manager with the Social Services Ministry, says the tribal council is refusing to tell the ministry where children in care are living and it won't allow spot checks.
But Tribal Chief Felix Thomas says the ministry is asking for more information and demanding more accountability than it's entitled to.
"I think the ministry, if they had jurisdiction on reserve, they certainly would have a right to it but right now they don't," he said. "That's the purview of the chief and councils."
Thomas said the seven First Nations in the Saskatoon Tribal council are in charge of children in care on reserve and they share information with the ministry if it's in the children's best interest.
However, ultimately Ottawa pays the bills on reserve, not the province.
"The province wants full jurisdiction without paying the price of admission," he said.
The ministry says it wants to have an information-sharing agreement in place with the tribal council by March of next year.
The tribal council says it's willing to meet and negotiate, but it's not willing to sign away its jurisdiction.
The auditor's problem with reports from reserves was part of a larger concern about how the Social Services Ministry is doing at protecting and placing children in its care.
There are not supposed to be more than four children in a single foster home, but in almost 75 per cent of the Social Services files he examined, senior managers did not review and reapprove homes that have more than four, Atkinson said.
The auditor also said that 47 per cent of the files his office examined indicated that employees did not have adequate contact with the children in the minister's care.