A class action lawsuit alleges that federal government actions violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and demonstrate systematic negligence
VANCOUVER – The Federal Court of Canada has certified a class action lawsuit against the federal government on behalf of indigenous children outside the reservation who have been taken away from their families and placed in the care of non-indigenous peoples.
In a decision released online on Monday, Federal Court of Justice Michael Phelan ruled that the study period will cover from January 1, 1992 to December 31, 2019, a period that the Vancouver law firm representing the plaintiffs calls “Millennium Scoop.”
The court ruling said those affected included status and non-status Indians, Inuit and mestizo youths and their families who do not live in the reserves.
The class seeks various damages, restitution and reimbursement of specific expenses on behalf of the affected children and families.
It alleges that the actions of the federal government violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and demonstrated systematic negligence, although the allegations were not proven in court.
Speaking on behalf of the plaintiffs, Vancouver lawyer Angela Besfflug said the certification “signals an important change in the law” because the federal government must now explain why it treats children outside the reserve differently from those living in the reserve.
“It is fundamentally wrong for Canada to agree to compensate the children in the reserve while leaving the children out of the cold reserve,” Bespflug said in a statement issued by Murphy Batista.
The federal government reached an agreement in principle last year to pay $ 40 billion to reserve youth and their families affected by discriminatory funding practices related to the child protection system.
Current data show that the vast majority of indigenous children detained and placed in state care are indigenous children outside the reserve, Murphy Batista said in a statement.
Dr Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the Society for the Care of Children and Families of the First Nations, says that compared to the height of the resident school period, three times as many children are in state care today.
“Canada apologized for the resident schools, but continued the same policies under a different name,” Blackstock said in the same statement.
“We call on Canada to stop fighting indigenous children out of reserve in court, take up the plate and lead, and finally bring about the changes needed to correct this deeply flawed system,” she said. .
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 20, 2022.
The Canadian press
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