Class Action Lawsuit on Child Welfare Filed Against Federal GovernmentA class action lawsuit seeking $3.05 billion in damages was launched against the federal government on March 8 on behalf of tens of thousands of Indigenous youth "who suffered or died" due to government neglect or discrimination. It alleges longstanding discrimination when it comes to their treatment by government agencies, including children and youth being removed from families or being denied the services available to their non-Indigenous counterparts.
"The discrimination has taken two forms. First, the Government's chronic underfunding of First Nations Child and Family Services has led to epidemic numbers of First Nations youth being removed from their homes and communities and placed into out-of-home care -- a practice known as the 'Millennial Scoop.'" The statement of claim in the suit explains that not only are these services for First Nations communities underfunded, but what funding exists is tied to the number of children taken off reserve and put into care. "The funding incentive to remove First Nations children from their homes accounts for the staggering number of First Nations children in state care," says the statement of claim. The statement of claim also notes, "There are approximately three times the numbers of First Nations children in state care now than there were in residential schools at their apex in the 1940s." The second major point of the lawsuit concerns "the Government's failure to honour and abide by Jordan's Principle, which it states "has resulted in tens of thousands of First Nations youth being denied necessary services and products due to bureaucratic wrangling over which level of government (federal or provincial) or which department within the Federal Government will cover the costs. Both practices were found by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ('Tribunal') to constitute systemic discrimination against First Nations youth in the landmark decision of First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada et al. v. Canada, 2016 CHRT 2." Jordan's Principle is an important legal rule established in 2005. It is named in memory of Jordan River Anderson, a child from Norway House Cree Nation in Manitoba who spent more than two years in a hospital because of a jurisdictional dispute between the federal and provincial government. The five-year-old boy died in hospital without ever going home. It is a child-first principle intended to resolve jurisdictional disputes within, and between, provincial/territorial and federal governments concerning payment for services to Indigenous children, and to ensure they have the same access to government services as all other children in Canada, and that these services are provided immediately. In the intervening years, the federal government has been repeatedly called to order by various offices and agencies, as well as international bodies, for its negligence in ensuring that it upholds Jordan's Principle.
The law firms explain that the "[Government] lost on both counts. The Tribunal found that the Government had engaged in systemic discrimination against First Nations youth contrary to section 5 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. This case asserts legal claims that rest on the same factual findings as were made by the Tribunal and seeks compensation for First Nations youth who have been harmed by the conduct." The lead plaintiff in the case is Xavier Moushoom, whose situation is indicative of that of many other Indigenous youth across Canada. Moushoom is an Algonquin man from the Lac Simon Anishnabe Nation in Quebec. From the ages of nine to 18, he lived in 14 foster homes. "By the time he became an adult, Mr. Moushoom had lost his roots, his culture and his language," reads the statement of claim.[1] The situation indicates that whatever apologies the Canadian state has given to the Indigenous peoples, in practice it is effectively continuing the policy of genocide and assimilation of Indigenous peoples that are part of the basis on which Canada was brought into being. This is the third class action brought against the Canadian government over the treatment of Indigenous children over several generations. One regarding survivors of the residential school system, in place from 1879 to 1996, was settled in 2005/2006. The second concerned the infamous "Sixties Scoop" in which Indigenous children were effectively kidnapped en masse, and placed into foster care with non-Indigenous families, resulting in the loss of culture, language, and identity. It did not cover claims for abuse while in care. That lawsuit was settled in 2017. Note1. To read the full
Statement of Claim, click
here. (Photos: TML, R.L. Birchark)
This article was published in Article Link:   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
The lawsuit is being
brought by two law firms, Sotos LLP
(Toronto) and Kugler Kandestin LLP (Montreal). Their March 8
press release states in part:
Rather than acknowledge
the
dire conditions Indigenous peoples face, especially the
youth, due in no small part to the Canadian state's genocidal
assault and failure to honour its Constitutional and treaty
obligations, the press release states that for the past nine years
Canadian governments have
contested at the Tribunal "whether its funding
of child and youth services on Reserves and its failure to comply
with Jordan's Principle were discriminatory." 