A $23 billion class action settlement will compensate First Nations children and families who experienced harm under Canada's underfunded child welfare system from 1991 to 2022. The settlement, approved in 2023, follows a 2019 Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling that found Canada discriminated against First Nations children.
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak attended the Special Chiefs Assembly in Ottawa on December 4, 2024. The Assembly of First Nations announced that children and their families who lived under Canada ’s First Nations child welfare system from 1991 to 2022 can apply for a class action settlement starting in March.
National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak stated that the settlement is an acknowledgment of the harms First Nations people experienced under a “racist system that has broken so many lives and families.” \In 2023, the Federal Court approved a $23 billion settlement to compensate an estimated 300,000 First Nations children and their families for Canada’s chronic underfunding of on-reserve child welfare services. The settlement agreement followed a 2019 Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) ruling that ordered Ottawa to pay the maximum penalty for discrimination — $40,000 — to each child inappropriately removed from their homes, as well as their parents or grandparents. \Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson emphasized that the claims process will be trauma-informed and claimants will not need to relive their experiences, as was the case with other First Nations-led class actions. The first batch of claims will open on March 10, and each claim is expected to take around six to 12 months to process
First Nations Child Welfare Class Action Settlement Canada
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