The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has approved a landmark First Nations child welfare deal between the federal government and First Nations in Ontario, partially ending a decades-long discrimination case.

Monday's decision comes after chiefs twice voted down a national $47.8-billion deal proposed by the federal government to reform the child welfare system, and a tumultuous two years of political infighting in the country's most prominent First Nations organization on the way forward.

The tribunal said it chose to issue a "letter decision" ahead of a formal decision to come later, so First Nations in Ontario do not lose a full year of funding under the agreement. It said it reserves the right to make changes to the letter decision.

"In choosing to work with the [Chiefs of Ontario] and the [Nishnawbe Aski Nation], and in recognizing their rightful authority to make decisions for their own children, Canada is taking an important step toward reversing a history marked by racist, paternalistic, colonial and assimilationist policies embedded in systemic and racially discriminatory structures, including child and family services," the decision reads.