The Canadian federal government will have to pay 16 billion euros in compensation to 300,000 children and their families, victims of racial discrimination.
16 billion euros in compensation is what the Canadian federal government will have to pay to 300,000 children and their families who are victims of racial discrimination. An example of discrimination that has been repeated over time: when an indigenous family does not have enough money, when it struggles to feed its children, instead of helping it, its children are regularly taken from it to be placed elsewhere. “We cannot take a child away from his or her family because of poverty,” said Carolyn Bennett, federal Minister of Indigenous Affairs, in response. Instead, she says, we need to fill the fridges.
This system lasted for decades, which explains why in 2016, one in two children in care was Indigenous, even though these children represent only 8% of all Canadian children.
Canadian justice admits that public services were failing
The Canadian federal government in Ottawa did not put enough money into these children on Native American reserves, compared to what was invested for other Canadian families. There was a failure in support for parents, in education, and in health too. One of the lead plaintiffs is Zach Trout. This man comes from the province of Manitoba, he had two children with serious neurological disorders. He tells how he had to fight to get help and access to care for his children who, for example, need six syringes a day, they will only have six a month. They waited over a year to get inclined beds. “We were treatedhe said, like third-class citizens.
Despite this court decision, associations defending the rights of indigenous peoples remain very vigilant because nothing has yet been resolved and the government, in addition to the 23 billion Canadian dollars for families, will have to invest 20 billion to reform the protection of children and services to families living on these reserves.
A step on the path to reconciliation for the Canadian government
This road is still very long, because this discrimination echoes other violence. Between 1931 and 1996, 150,000 Inuit, Métis and First Nations children were forcibly taken from their families and placed in residential schools, often run by the Catholic Church. The goal was then to evangelize them and “to remove the Indian that was in them”.
Those who came out recount the sexual abuse, the humiliation, the mistreatment, the obligation to eat soap as soon as a word in their mother tongue came out of the mouths of these children. According to the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission, more than 4,000 children died in these residential schools.