(OTTAWA) First Nations leaders on Tuesday approved a revised multi-billion dollar settlement for children and their loved ones affected by federal underfunding of child and family services on reserve.
Gathered this week in Ottawa for a special assembly of the Assembly of First Nations, on the “national action plan of the United Nations Declaration”, the chiefs also adopted, Tuesday morning, a motion supporting the new agreement.
This proposal notably provides for an additional 3 billion Ottawa dollars, which brings the total compensation to victims to 23 billion.
In 2019, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ordered the federal government to pay $40,000 in compensation to every First Nations child and family who had been unjustly separated due to underfunding of child welfare in the reserves, which gave rise to two collective actions.
The federal government began negotiating with the Assembly of First Nations in 2021 to settle the lawsuits. He finally agreed to spend 20 billion to reform the child protection system and to pay 20 billion in compensation.
But the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal rejected the proposed settlement last year. The court was particularly concerned that not all the plaintiffs would receive the $40,000 promised by Ottawa in compensation.
As chiefs met this week in Ottawa for another matter, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) announced that a revised settlement had been reached. This new proposed settlement would include 13,000 more children and other changes that the AFN said would address the court’s concerns.
The new settlement proposal, now endorsed by the Chiefs, will be resubmitted to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal for approval.
The leaders gathered in Ottawa also called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to issue a “formal and meaningful” apology to the complainants and victims of these injustices.