OTTAWA —
The Liberal authorities is predicted to disclose immediately whether or not it is going to proceed preventing an order directing it to compensate First Nations kids faraway from their properties.
A 30-day authorized window is closing for Ottawa to attraction a Federal Court docket ruling which upheld two historic choices from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
It discovered Ottawa discriminated in opposition to First Nations kids by knowingly underfunding youngster and household companies for these dwelling on reserve.
Litigants within the case say this led to hundreds of children being taken away from their households and enduring abuse and struggling in provincial foster care programs.
The tribunal stated every First Nations youngster, together with their mother and father or grandparents, who had been separated due to this continual underfunding had been eligible to obtain $40,000 every in federal compensation.
It additionally dominated that the standards wanted to be expanded so extra First Nations kids might be eligible for Jordan’s Precept, a rule designed to make sure jurisdictional disputes over who pays for what would not forestall youngsters from accessing authorities companies.
In 2019, the federal authorities requested the Federal Court docket to dismiss the tribunal’s choices, however the court docket final month upheld them.
Since then, stress has been mounting from opposition events and Indigenous leaders on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to simply accept the ruling, quite than take it to the Federal Court docket of Attraction.
Determining what to do subsequent has been one of many first main choices his re-elected Liberal authorities and newly named cupboard ministers have needed to grapple with.
Trudeau, alongside along with his freshly appointed Indigenous Companies minister, Patty Hajdu, stated this week the case was being reviewed totally and underscored that First Nations kids can be compensated.
Regardless of that, neither instantly dominated out in search of one other court docket assessment, with Justice Minister David Lametti later saying there are various factors at play and that the file is a sophisticated one.
Youngster-welfare advocates and case litigants say if the Trudeau authorities is severe about its dedication to reconciliation with Indigenous Individuals it will not return to court docket.
Repairing Canada’s relationship with Indigenous communities has lengthy been a precedence of Trudeau’s, however the discovery of what are believed to be a whole bunch of unmarked graves at former residential college websites by First Nations in Saskatchewan and British Columbia have heightened Canadians’ consideration to his promise.
Trudeau has been beneath much more stress to show his dedication to reconciliation after selecting to spend the primary nationwide Reality and Reconcilation Day final month on trip in Tofino, B.C., quite than attend a ceremony commemorating unmarked graves discovered on the former Kamloops residential college website. He has since visited the positioning and apologized profusely to the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Nation, which had issued an invite for him to attend the Sept. 30 ceremony.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Oct. 29, 2021.
