Retired Senator Murray Sinclair was appointed Thursday to oversee the negotiation of compensation for Indigenous children removed from their homes by social services.
The news was greeted favorably by all parties involved, according to a statement issued by the office of Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu.
On October 29, the federal government appealed a judgment of the Federal Court of Appeal that upheld an order of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal while entering into negotiations with the Assembly of First Nations and the Caring Society. to First Nations children and families. He gave himself until December 2021 to reach an agreement.
The court ordered him to pay $ 40,000 to every First Nations child torn from his family due to chronic underfunding of children’s services. This is the maximum penalty he could impose. The parents or grandparents of these young people are also entitled to the same amount. There would be approximately 54,000 eligible children and their families, bringing the total amount of this compensation to over $ 2 billion.
Ottawa’s objectives are to negotiate the amount of compensation, reform its program of child and family services for First Nations and develop the necessary infrastructure on reserves for these social services under Jordan’s Principle. Under this policy adopted by the House of Commons in 2007, Indigenous children should get the services they need first when there is a conflict between the federal government and a provincial government or between two departments over who will. pay the bill.
In 2009, Murray Sinclair chaired the Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He then served in the Senate from 2016 until his retirement in 2021. Originally from Manitoba, he was the first Indigenous judge in that province and the second to be appointed to Canada.