A class action may go forward on behalf of victims of crime in Nunavik, in northern Quebec: a judge has authorized the legal action which alleges that the Quebec State has failed in its obligations to help Inuit assaulted or injured.
Raven Gordon-Kawapit is from Nunavik. She says she was the victim of four crimes against the person, without ever having received help from the state.
When crimes against the person are committed—for example, sexual assault or assault—victims can seek help from the state through its Crime Victims Compensation Act. If the request is accepted, they can receive psychotherapy or physiotherapy, among other services.
Ms. Gordon-Kawapit believes that her case is not unique: the vast majority of victims of criminal acts in Nunavik have not had help from the state, she says. Between 2013 and 2020, the State paid only 86 indemnities while 40,868 crimes against the person were committed in this territory, it is reported in the judgment authorizing the collective action, under the pen of the Justice Lukasz Granosik of the Superior Court.
This ratio between the number of crimes and compensation paid is much lower in Nunavik than elsewhere in Quebec. “Objectively infinitesimal and disproportionate to the provincial average,” noted the judge.
Ms. Gordon-Kawapit argues that there is discrimination against Aboriginal people in the provision of public services. The Inuit account for 90% of the population in Nunavik.
Quebec failed in its obligations, she argues.
While her four attackers were convicted and she participated fully in the legal process, she says she was never made aware of the existence of the compensation scheme. She only learned of his existence last year, she says, when she considered suing her attackers in civil court.
By his judgment handed down at the beginning of December, the judge allowed the action to go through all the legal steps leading to a trial.
It will then be determined whether the Quebec State was at fault and whether the victims of crimes against the person in Nunavik are entitled to moral and punitive damages. It is claimed $10,000 in punitive damages and $1,000 per crime in moral damages for each victim.