The federal ministers in charge of Indigenous affairs say they want the prime minister to apologize to First Nations children and families for the discrimination they faced through a chronically underfunded foster care system once the $23.4-billion compensation agreement is approved.
The breakthrough deal was struck last Sunday after a contentious 16-year legal battle — half of which was waged under the current Liberal government.
The proposed settlement is expected to compensate approximately 300,000 First Nations people — more than any other agreement in Canadian history and one of the largest in the world.
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller and Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu said they will be making a recommendation to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to issue a formal apology for the harm caused by the broken system that separated more First Nations children from their families and cultures than during the height of the residential school era.
“We’ll be bringing that request forward to the prime minister,” Hajdu said. “I know that will be something he considers.”
WATCH | Lessons learned from long-drawn-out fight for justice:
Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller says he wishes the process to reach the final settlement agreement for First Nations child welfare compensation had gone faster. But he says this is “a turning point.”
Both Hajdu and Miller also said they hope Ottawa uses the historic deal as a blueprint for other cases of discrimination, particularly with Indigenous people, to negotiate instead of fighting in court.
“I wish it had gone faster,” Miller said. “But, I think, the way in which this was done really is a turning point in the way we do business.”
Since the Liberal government was elected in 2015, Hajdu said reconciliation has been a centrepiece of her and her colleagues’ work.
But she said it hasn’t always been smooth and easy.
Challenges within government to ‘right historical wrongs’
Hajdu said she’s faced challenges convincing people within her own government to settle the landmark case.
“Our understanding of how to do that work is evolving and changing,” Hajdu told CBC News. “Part of that is leaning into the difficult conversations and understanding where we can do better, as partners, to right historical wrongs in this case.”
The multibillion-dollar compensation agreement covers three groups:
- First Nations children living on-reserve or in the Yukon taken from their homes and put into care from April 1, 1991, until March 31, 2022.
- First Nations children living on or off reserve, who were deprived of essential services or experienced delays with essential services from any government from April 1, 1991, until Nov. 2, 2017.
- Caregivers of all children.
“It’s a signal to these kids that the wrong has been done to them,” said Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Manitoba Regional Chief Cindy Woodhouse. “I’m glad that we settled this in an amicable way rather than in a courtroom.”
Woodhouse, who is the AFN’s lead negotiator on the file, said she believes the government negotiated in “good faith” when she joined the talks in 2021. But it took a long time to get there.
Ongoing 16-year legal battle
The case started in 2007 after Cindy Blackstock, the executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, and the AFN filed a human rights complaint against Canada.
In 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) found Ottawa discriminated against First Nations children and said Canada’s actions led to “trauma and harm to the highest degree, causing pain and suffering.”
In 2019, the CHRT ordered the federal government to pay $40,000 — the maximum allowed under the Canadian Human Rights Act — to each child affected by the on-reserve foster care system, along with their primary guardians, as long as the children weren’t taken into foster care because of abuse.
It also directed the government to pay the same amount to children and families who had essential services delayed or denied under a federal policy known as Jordan’s Principle.
Ottawa initially struck a $20-billion agreement with the AFN last year to pay the human rights orders, and settle two class-action lawsuits making similar claims. The government has also set aside an additional $20 billion for ongoing long-term reform of the on-reserve child welfare system.
The CHRT rejected the original deal last fall because it shortchanged some victims and excluded others.
The revised proposal was reached after more than two months of renewed negotiations to add $3.4 billion to the $20-billion proposed settlement.
The life-changing reparations could roll out as soon as the end of the year or early next year, but only if the CHRT and Federal Court endorse the compensation package.
Anyone covered under the CHRT’s orders is expected to received at least $40,000.
All of the money will go to the class members, according to class-action lawyer David Sterns, and legal costs will be paid outside of the settlement process.