(Ottawa) A tentative deal whereby Ottawa will pay billions of dollars in compensation to First Nations children victims of an underfunded child welfare system is to be announced Tuesday in Ottawa.
Sources confirmed to The Canadian Press that negotiations reached their final stages on New Year’s Eve, culminating in a deal that could finally end a human rights challenge launched 14 years ago.
The case has been a hotbed in reconciliation efforts with Indigenous peoples in Canada, as the former and current federal governments have spent millions of dollars to challenge it in court.
The battle began in 2007 when the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada and the Assembly of First Nations filed a human rights complaint claiming that chronic underfunding child welfare services on reserve discriminated against the services provided by provincial governments to children off reserve.
Following several court challenges and unsuccessful appeals by the former Conservative government, the complaint was heard by the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 2013 and 2014.
In 2016, the court ruled that the federal government had discriminated against First Nations children.