(Whitecap) Survivors of a residential school that housed Métis children in northern Saskatchewan have sought permission to file a class action lawsuit against the federal and provincial governments.
The federal boarding school at Île-à-la-Crosse opened in the 1820s and operated for over 100 years in this northern Saskatchewan village.
Survivors say they suffered abuse at this federal facility, and were stripped of their culture and language.
Survivors of the Île-à-la-Crosse residential school were not part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, implemented in 2007, because that facility was determined not to qualify.
A memorandum of understanding was signed with Ottawa in 2019, but the group of survivors from Île-à-la-Crosse says that the discussions did not succeed thereafter.
Survivors say they now want to sue governments for their role in running the school and for breaching legal obligations that required them to care for the children.
The court must first authorize the class action for it to proceed. No defense has yet been filed by the federal and provincial governments, which did not immediately provide comment.