The federal court has approved the largest class action settlement in Canadian history today more than $23 billion for first nation’s Children and Families racially discriminated against by Ottawa the federal government agreed to pay after a human rights tribunal found it chronically underfunded first nation’s Child and Family Services as
Olivia stefanovich reports the decision could be life-changing emotion broke out in the courtroom after a federal court judge approved more SP $23 billion in compensation I’m overwhelmed speechless I never thought that judge would render a decision today I will be issuing an order approving the final settlement agreement Zaki as trout and
His wife waited years for this moment a small measure of justice for their children s and Jacob trout Ottawa failed to provide proper health support for the their rare neurological disorder Z and Jacob both died before the age of 10 their names will be in a history books
It’s a history that’s been made here today I’m kind of overwhelmed I wish my mom was here Marina Marina Beetle after she died jonovan Mii told the court he continued his mother’s fight against the federal government to get supports for his brother Jeremy this will keep jerem inside his home and
Keep him loved and keep him with the people that he needs to be with the court also heard from young people ripped away from their families and nations in such high numbers there are more kids in care now than at the height of residential schools I don’t fit in with my adopted
Family I also don’t fit in with my home Community but heartbreakingly I know that I’m actually not alone is a lesson for the country the indigenous Services Minister says she hopes the decision leads to change but one of the lead lawyers in the case says there are more lawsuits pending against Ottawa 23.3
Billion is being paid to compensate this class because that’s the extent of the harm that was caused uh should that cause a government to change its ways change its attitudes I would hope so more than 300,000 first nation’s people are eligible for compensation they’re expected to begin receiving tens of
Thousands of dollars each next year Olivia stefanovich CBC News Ottawa for more on this historic settlement agreement we turn now to the first nation’s children’s Advocate who started the battle for federal compensation all the way back in 2007 Cindy Blackstock is executive director of the first nation’s child and
Family caring Society she joins us from Toronto Cindy Blackstock thanks for joining us today well thanks for having me I wonder if I could just get your reaction to this it seemed like it was done then it wasn’t and now it appears this deal is finally done how does it
Feel to have this signed off on by the judge well it’s a it’s a it’s a relief but I also find myself thinking about the thousands of children youth and families who are hurt by cidis discrimination who will never get their childhoods back and that’s why do is so
Important that we end the discrimination and prevent it from happening again because no amount of compensation ever gets you your family back yes uh that that is a true point I want to explore that in just a second but just a little bit more if if I can on the mechanics of
How this settlement is going to work $23 billion it’s $40,000 per person as I understand it Cindy how quickly will they see that money what’s the distribution process going to be there it’s a good question so it’s $40,000 for anyone who would have been entitled under the king human rights tribunal
Orders and for other persons because it goes back before the tribunal had jurisdiction between 1991 and 2005 the the timing of how the money flows and really super important the supports that are going to be available to uh children youth and families are receiving that compensation that’s all
Going to be documented in something called a distribution protocol and uh that’s uh going to be filed with a court uh likely in early next year by the Class Action Council so we’ll all have to watch for that and that’ll lay out the timing of when the compensation will
Be released okay you mentioned supports and I’m glad you did because that’s something I I wanted to to ask about because uh and I asked this question with no judgment uh because I I’ve done stories on people who are residential school survivors and have gotten cash settlements who are in a very difficult
Place in their lives because of everything that happened to them and the money perhaps wasn’t as helpful as it could have been because of those circumstances so so what are you looking at there in terms of supports what do you think is needed uh to to make sure
This money goes to very good use for these people well the carrying society’s position is that it’s going to take a holistic plan for example there’s some communities that are in crisis right now and those need to be identified and with a different additional supports particularly over the first five years
When most of the compensation will be rolling out the other thing that’s needed is we need sech capacity in the communities for mental Wellness programs for addictions programs and those types of supports so that when the compensation comes out and there may be additional requirements for those services that they’re funded and they’re
Available to do so the other thing that we need to do is make sure those supports are available before the compensation goes residential school survivors are very clear about that before during and after the compensation because that is can be very difficult uh one of the positive changes
For this compensation is it doesn’t involve interviews you might have remembered that for residential school survivor they had to go through almost like a cross-examination on their experiences to get compensation the goal here is to actually not have interviews particularly because a lot of these claimants are going to be are still
Children so we can’t put them through that so it has to be based on objective factors and that’s what the goal is yeah I I remember speaking some residential school survivors in Labrador who had to almost rank the they were almost rated the level of abuse and Trauma they
Suffered to determine the settlement which is a tough process to go through but but as you mentioned right off the top uh you want to make sure the Discrimination ends there is $20 billion as part of this for long-term reform of the on-reserve child welfare system and
Family Services U so I I’m wondering what you hope comes from that but also I sense you think there bigger issues even Beyond those systemic changes there is I mean when we look at the reasons why first nation’s children are going into Care at 17.2 times more
The rate it’s this lack of Prevention Services and we’ve made some progress there but it’s uh things like lack of housing lack of water um uh the trauma from residential schools and that results in addictions and other things and so we need to get at those root problems and end the inequalities in
Those root programs by the federal government that’s going to be key and uh we’re also having some compliance issues with the ongoing orders with the tribunal in fact we just did submissions this last week raising concerns about Canada’s implementation of the Child and Family Services and of Jordan’s
Principal these are with existing orders so um you know the effort needs to continue because what the survivors said to a person yesterday as they were um making their representations is that they came forward and told their truth so that this generation of kids doesn’t have to go through it and unfortunately
It’s still happening so we all collectively need to keep our eye on Canada and demand that they stop this discrimination it’s not in the public interest it’s certainly not in the children’s interest to allow the harms to continue I I I know it’s not done but
Today does Mark progress I I mean do you sense you have a willing partner right now and that there is a desire to to move to where you say the country needs to go um I hope so I mean this has been uh as you say this has been going on for 16
And a half years and uh they we this has been an important settlement the government consented to this settlement so that’s a positive step um but they’re still at of compliance with the other orders so we need to make sure that uh this isn’t just a a page
Turner for the government that we keep our eye on the children today because when the public watches things get better for kids and when the public turns away children continue to be harmed do do you think uh based on other issues that exist in in the relationship
Here do you think there are other potential lawsuits Cindy making their way into the system now uh that the government could be and they’re all to me sad when it comes to compensation because it means that those kids were heard right if we this is a case with
One of the biggest public policy failures in Canadian history 20 years ago we had did a report with the federal government that flagged these inequalities and how they were harming kids and provided suggestions the government chose not to implement those David and that’s why they’re paying the
$23.4 billion and all these children and families were unnecessarily hurt what we need to demand is that when there’s serious harms on the books and there’s solutions to remedy them that the government regardless of whatever political party acts on that because it in the end it saves people money and
More importantly it saves people’s lives Cindy blacko thank you for joining us today thank you for having me for the federal government’s perspective on the federal Court’s approval we turn to the minister of indigenous Services Patty hu Minister welcome back to the show thanks David nice to see you I know you’ve only
Been at this a couple of years compared to the 15E Cindy Blackstock has worked on this file but how does it feel to finally have this more or less over the Finish Line well you know the approval of the federal court was the final piece of work to uh uh finalize the agreement
In principle that as you rightly point out we started uh two years ago with uh Dr blacko but also with afn mhum and trout and um I’m really pleased for the L in particular that this the years of their advocacy is coming to a close on the issue of compensation so Cindy
Blackstock was telling us they still need to figure out exactly how this money will be distributed in an agreement that will be filed with the court in the new year and then they need to talk about safeguards uh to help some of the people who will be getting this
Money who may be at a difficult Point uh in their life when it arrives does the federal government have any role in that or does this move Beyond you at this point it does move beyond the federal government at this point so this uh compensation will be delivered with the
Guidance of the implementation committee that’s what Dr Blackstock is talking about and it is important that indigenous people and indeed the implementation committee through the voices of the many different people affected will have the the role of Designing how that compensation unfolds we’ve seen previous administrations um
Not reflect the uh the need for for example trauma and fored approaches to uh the kinds of um compensation regimes and I’m really thrilled that it will be designed and delivered uh by indigenous people for indigenous people one of the things Cindy blacko said to us is she there is still discrimination systemic
Discrimination against indigenous people in this country and uh even with this done she doesn’t want this to be a page Turner and that she wants a continued partner on moving ahead on some of these things so that there aren’t more lawsuits like this how do you make that
Happen well that’s the part two or I would say the second half of the historic agreement in principle you’ll recall call when we signed that agreement two years ago there was the compensation piece and then there was the uh reforming the system piece and that work continues with Dr Blackstock
And um the other parties and it’s exactly what she’s talking about it’s it’s about the work to not only transform how we do business but to make sure that it’s sufficiently resourced so that uh indigenous families and Children First Nations families and children never have to experience that kind of
Discrimination in the child welfare system again you know uh Cindy Blackstock maintains that the government is still discriminating against First Nations Children and Families uh despite this settlement there there’s still non-compliance issues with some past orders uh from the human rights uh bodies that that have issued them in the
Past uh how quickly can you get into compliance with those you know because she says it is not happening well what I would say is we’ve come a long way uh in the last eight years in terms of equity work for First Nations people and I can tell you
That the Gap continues to exist in many spaces but we are working really closely with Partners not just on the federal reform of the system but on the reform of child welfare across this country let’s not forget the historic passing of bill c92 which uh provides the tools and
The fiscal resources to be able to restore the right to indigenous peoples to care for their own children and families in uh culturally appropriate ways there have been at least 10 of these agreements signed across the country I’ve been present at a number of them and I can tell you that’s the
Transformational work it’s in the self-determination so how could this goes to the the committee as you’re were saying I guess the implementation committee I believe was the phrase uh you used how quickly do you expect people will start to see the compensation for the Discrimination they suffered as a result of this settlement
Well I know that the settlement uh implementation committee wants that uh compensation to flow quickly I also know they want to make sure it is done safely and so I think that they’ll be uh cognizant of the need for uh really quick uh H work in that space I know
That families have spoken to me uh and individuals have spoken to me about wanting to see this come to a conclusion so I know urgency is at the top of everyone’s mind so this settlement um it’s been settled before right there have been various appeals and court
Orders is there any other possibility of a legal challenge at this stage Minister that that could stop this I know it’s a federal court approval could this go to the Supreme Court or is this done and it’s just uh the fine print of the implementation that needs to happen now
This is done and this is the fine print it’s a great way to uh describe where we’re at um nobody is appealing this decision in fact all the parties had uh worked to arrive at this agreement presented it to the chrt which then accepted the agreement and then the
Federal government has given its stamp of approval so now we’re at the place where truly we’ll start to see compensation flow uh as uh the implementation committee does its work and begins to um assess how to do that safely for families and people minister of indigenous Services Patty haidu
Thanks so much for your time today thank you very much David
The Federal Court has approved a $23 billion settlement agreement for First Nations children and families who experienced racial discrimination through Ottawa’s chronic underfunding of the on-reserve foster care system and other family services. Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, and Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu weigh in on the approval.
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