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Canada agrees to ‘historic reparations’ for 200,000 indigenous children
Billions of dollars will be paid in compensation to the victims of ‘discriminatory’
First Nations child welfare system
The Canadian government has reached a “milestone” $31-billion settlement to compensate indigenous children and families harmed by the “discriminatory underfunding” of the child welfare system on First Nations reservations.
Two in-principle agreements – relating to compensation for more than 200,000 affected children dating back to 1991, and to future reform of the system – represent the “largest settlement in Canadian history,” Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller said on Tuesday.
Marc Miller is gaining a reputation for getting things done. As such, he stands out among Liberal Ministers.
Noting that “historic injustices require historic reparations,” Miller said that “no amount of money can reverse the harms experienced” and described the deals as an acknowledgement that successive governments had failed indigenous children.
Once finalized, the settlement will conclude a long-running legal battle, which began in 2007 with a complaint by the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT). In 2016, the tribunal ruled that Ottawa had underfunded services for First Nations children relative to those for non-indigenous children.
The Canadian government appealed the CHRT verdict, which ordered it to pay compensation worth Can$40,000 (US$31,455) to every indigenous child who had been removed from their family through the system or been forced to leave their home.
After losing that appeal last year, the government entered formal negotiations with indigenous groups instead of taking the matter to the Supreme Court. The discussions concluded on New Year’s Eve. Justice Minister David Lametti said the government would withdraw its appeals once the agreements are finalized.
Describing the deal as “words on paper,” Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, told Reuters that the Can$20 billion in funds earmarked for system reform may not tackle deep-rooted problems.
Deep-rooted is right. The roots go back well over 100 years to the residential school disgrace. Child abuse and child sexual abuse emerged from the inhumane treatment of 1st Nations people for over 100 years and continues today through generational abuse.
I don't have the details of how this payment will work, but I have a lot of questions. I really hope it does work and brings closure to abused children and adults. However, Trudeau throws money around like there is no end to it. His father did the same and nearly bankrupted Canada. Justin, will certainly complete his father's failure. Where will the victims of child abuse stand when Canada goes under, and it will.
Having lived around indigenous people for many years, and having experience in fostering abused children, I know that in some 1st Nations communities there are more abused and neglected children than there are families who can foster those children. Social workers weren't always wrong in moving aboriginal children into homes of white families, not by a long shot. Some would probably not be alive otherwise.
How does the government improve the ability of parents and grandparents to be good child-carers when they have been abused themselves? I don't know the answer to that question. Perhaps 1st Nations people know the answer, but something needs to be done here or the government is just throwing money into the wind.
“I judge victory when I can walk into a community and a child is able to say to me, ‘My life is better than it was yesterday.’ Nothing in these words actually changes children’s lives until it’s implemented,” Blackstock said.
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