Two indigenous plaintiffs claiming to be victims of abuse in schools in the 1970s received approval from the Supreme Court for a class action lawsuit against seven school service centers, including three in Abitibi-Témiscamingue. Ottawa, Quebec and Nord-du-Québec are also being targeted.
The two plaintiffs, who live in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, say they were victims of physical, psychological and sexual abuse while attending schools run by the Quebec government in the 1970s. These schools were located on the territory of indigenous communities such as Lac-Simon.
In 2019, the federal court approved a settlement that compensated survivors of state schools. However, provincial schools such as those affected in this case were not included in the regulation. In contrast to boarding schools, the target schools only admitted students during regular school hours.
Since their identities are protected by a non-publication order, the plaintiffs accuse these provincial schools of pursuing a stated goal of cultural assimilation.
[Ils estiment que] The children who attended them were victims of acculturation and, in many cases, psychological, physical and sexual abuse by teachers, administrators, other employees and other children at these schools, the Supreme Court decision said. In her opinion, this system also caused serious harm to the relatives of these children.
One of the plaintiffs' lawyers, Me David Schulze, said by telephone that the plaintiffs were satisfied with the court's decision. They are very satisfied with the verdict. They're waiting to see what happens next, he says.
The targeted school service centers in Abitibi-Témiscamingue are those of Or-et-des-Bois, Harricana and Lac-Témiscamingue. The other centers are located on the North Coast (CSS du Littoral and CSS du Fer), in Gaspésie (CSS René-Lévesque) and in Nord-du-Québec (CSS de la Baie-James).
Thousands of children
The class action lawsuit seeks compensation for children who were forced to attend Quebec-run schools in an Indigenous community or Inuit village between 1951 and 2014. The court's decision makes it clear that thousands of children would have experienced this situation.
The plaintiffs are seeking $20,000 in moral damages for each class member. Depending on the severity of the individual abuse suffered, additional compensation could be awarded.
Mr. Schulze does not know how many people could be part of a possible agreement. We don't have numbers on the number of members of the group, but we estimate there are 21 schools across Quebec, from Listuguj to Nunavik. All Cree and Inuit schools, as well as those in Lac-Simon, are in the Abitibi jurisdiction, he states.
The settlement, approved by the federal court in 2019, offered compensation of $10,000 to $200,000 to Indigenous people who were abused in day schools.
The judge, like the defendants, recognized that the only difference between state and federal day schools lies in the organization that runs the schools.
The period covered by the class action ends in 2014, the year the federal government repealed the provisions of the Indian Act. These provisions made it possible to force indigenous children to attend schools selected by the state.
Approval granted
The federal government and the school service centers, with the exception of the CSS de la Baie-James, did not object to the approval of the class action lawsuit. For its part, the Quebec government expressed reservations about certain aspects of the application.
The James Bay CSS believes that it cannot be held responsible for the schools located in the area covered by the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA).
Rather, he claims that the Cree School Board and the Kativik School Board have the rights and responsibilities of the school boards that have provided education to the indigenous children in the territory, clarifies the decision of Judge Sylvain Lussier, who postpones the adoption of this decision for one year later date. Ask.
The Or-et-des-Bois and Lac-Témiscamingue school service centers declined our interview requests. At the time of writing, the other school service centers had not yet responded to our interview requests.
Morency Law Firm, which represents school service centers, also declined our interview request.