(Ottawa) The long legal battle for justice for Indigenous children taken from their families is coming to an end. Assembly of First Nations chiefs have endorsed a new $23.3 billion settlement negotiated with the federal government, a record amount for class action in the country. They are also demanding a public apology from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“For 17 years, the issue of compensation for children harmed by the system [des services sociaux] was shoveled forward again and again,” said the regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations in Manitoba, Cindy Woodhouse, at a press conference on Wednesday.
Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller also participated in the announcement.
A first agreement of 20 billion concluded in January 2022 had been rejected by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal because it excluded children who were entitled to compensation. The federal government and the representatives of the First Nations therefore returned to the negotiating table to reach a new agreement which provides for an additional 3 billion.
Hundreds of thousands of children have been removed from their families by social services for discriminatory reasons. An experience considered comparable to that of residential schools for Aboriginals, since by being placed in non-Aboriginal families, the children were cut off from their culture.
The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada and the Assembly of First Nations filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in 2007 to seek justice for these children. The class action was subsequently launched in 2019.
We are talking, yes, today, of historic sums even from a global perspective, but we are also talking about historic wrongs that go back to the 1990s.
Marc Miller, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations
Approximately 300,000 children and young adults and their families will be eligible for this compensation. The settlement will apply to First Nations on reserve and in the Yukon who were affected between 1er April 1991 and March 31, 2022. Their parents or guardians may also receive compensation. We do not yet know how many people this will affect in Quebec.
“Ending Intergenerational Trauma”
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal had ordered the federal government to pay $40,000 to each First Nations child torn from their families due to chronic underfunding of child services, as well as to their parents or Grand parents. This is the maximum penalty he could impose.
A sum that can make all the difference for young people who find themselves without support from social services once they have reached the age of majority. “Having that much money gives you a roof over your head, food on the table,” said Ashley Bock, a young Aboriginal woman who grew up in foster care in Ontario. “It’s also a way to be able to have an education to get a good job and put an end to the intergenerational trauma. »
The envelope will also be used for those who did not receive the health care they should have received due to jurisdictional disputes, before and after the House of Commons passed Jordan’s Principle. This stipulated that Aboriginal children should get the services they need first, when there is a dispute between the federal government and a provincial government or between two departments as to who will foot the bill. However, the federal government has interpreted it narrowly for years.
The agreement must be ratified by both the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and the Federal Court. Both bodies had decided in favor of the Aboriginal children when the dispute between the First Nations and the federal government was presented to them.
If the agreement is approved, the assessment of compensation claims would begin in late 2023 or early 2024. An apology from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to follow.
How the funds will be distributed is yet to be determined. The people who will be entitled to it will be able to choose to receive their money all at once or in several installments. “These are people who have been through a lot of trauma in their lifetime, and many of them have little or no financial knowledge,” class action lawyer David Sterns said in an interview. His cabinet will try to equip them.
Minister Patty Hajdu hinted Wednesday that a second envelope intended to end discrimination against Aboriginal children could be improved. In January 2022, the government reached another $20 billion deal over five years to reform the federal First Nations child and family services program, support emerging young adults, help families stay together and providing on-reserve housing.