Protesters call to commemorate the abuse of Indigenous children by Canada’s Child Protection Service on “Day of Truth and Reconciliation” in Montreal, September 30, 2022. GRAHAM HUGHES v AP
More victims compensated and an amount revised upwards by 3 billion: Canada and tribal groups have signed an agreement to pay more than CA$23 billion in compensation to tribal children and their families discriminated against by the child welfare system become.
“This final settlement marks a long-awaited turning point for thousands of families,” said Cindy Woodhouse, regional leader of the Manitoba First Nations Assembly (central part of the country), in a press release.
A first version, announced in January 2022 as the “largest compensation agreement in Canadian history”, had been rejected by a Canadian court, noting in particular that the agreement excluded certain children. The families of more than 300,000 children are finally being compensated.
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The revised agreement would end a legal battle that has been going on for more than fifteen years. It has been approved by the First Nations Assembly and now has to be confirmed by the judiciary.
The comparison applies to those who fell victim to the system between April 1, 1991 and March 31, 2022.
“Historical Totals” for “Historical Wrongs”
These are “historic totals, even from a global perspective, but we are also talking about historical wrongs going back to the 1990s,” Minister for Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller told a news conference.
Although they make up less than 8% of children under the age of 14 in Canada, Indigenous children accounted for more than half of the children enrolled in the child welfare system, according to a 2016 census.
Indigenous peoples in Canada suffer from higher levels of poverty and lower life expectancies than other Canadians, and are more likely to be victims of violent crime, substance abuse, and incarceration.
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