underfunded by the government in comparison with those for non-indigenous children. Although Ottawa said it would appeal the verdict at the time, now the government has agreed to settle billions of dollars in compensation for these children who have suffered discrimination while in foster care.
Until 1996, indigenous children in Canada were separated from their families and were sent away to government-funded boarding schools, where they were malnourished, beaten and even sexually abused at times. They were seen as part of the state’s efforts to assimilate indigenous children. The policy is said to have traumatised generations of First Nations children, who were also forced to abandon their native languages and speak English or French and to convert to Christianity.
These recent discoveries prompted national outrage, and Ottawa has now pledged up to C$40 billion ($31 billion) in compensation. These funds will be used to fund long-term reforms in the indigenous child welfare system of the country and to also settle the 2016 tribunal and two other lawsuits, according to public broadcaster CBC.
“Money does not mean justice, however, it signals that we are on the healing path forward,” RoseAnne Archibald, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said. “The magnitude of the proposed compensation package is a testament to how many of our children were ripped from their families and communities,” she added.
