Canada _ (Commonwealth Union) _ According to court papers, the Canadian government and the Assembly of First Nations have made “significant progress” in amending a proposed $20 billion settlement plan for victims of the chronically underfunded on-reserve child-welfare system.
According to a letter filed Friday in Federal Court, the parties in the continuing class-action litigation “have agreed on a road to an updated FSA [final settlement agreement]” after two days of secret meetings in Ottawa last week.
The new agreement is still subject to restrictions and must be prepared, according to David Sterns, a lawyer with Sotos LLP’s class-action section, who asked additional time to work out the specifics. A representative for Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu also would to comment on the specifics of the modified agreement, but maintained a vow to pay people who were injured.
“We are dedicated to seeing this through,” stated communications director Andrew MacKendrick.
The agreement, which was first announced early last year, became tainted when it was rejected by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
The action was launched in 2019 by Xavier Moushoom, an Anishinaabe man from Lac-Simon, Quebec, although it covers substantially similar material as a long-standing human rights complaint against Canada before the tribunal. The AFN and Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, filed the lawsuit in 2007. The AFN joined the Moushoom class action in 2020.
Blackstock, who was present at the table last week, has pushed for an extension of the class action’s “opt-out date,” which is when potential claimants may decide whether or not to be included in the settlement. According to Sterns’ letter, the parties agreed to postpone it back from February 19 to August. In 2016, the human rights tribunal, a quasi-judicial authority established by federal human rights law, ruled with Blackstock and the AFN. It determined that Canada’s underfunding of child and family services on reservations and in the Yukon constituted criminal racial discrimination.
In 2019, the tribunal determined that the discrimination was “wilful and irresponsible” and awarded the statutory limit of $40,000 to each victim and certain family members. However, Canada refuses to pay the order, which was upheld in Federal Court, a decision Ottawa challenged.
The panel found in December written reasons that Hajdu and the AFN deceived the public by not reporting this. Both the AFN and Hajdu filed legal objections to the tribunal judgment, but those cases have yet to be heard.
Meanwhile, the AFN brought the topic before its chief’s assembly in Ottawa for discussion in December. There, the chiefs formed a cohesive front and directed the AFN to demand that Ottawa pay a “minimum of $20 billion” promptly and to guarantee that no one is left out.
