Compensation to indigenous children may cost Canada billions

Canadian Federal Court on Wednesday upheld a ruling that ordered Canada government to compensate indigenous children for suffering discrimination.

In 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that less funds had been allocated for child and family services of indigenous people than for non-indigenous people. The tribunal observed that this pushed more indigenous children into foster care.

The follow-up order of the tribunal was appealed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government. The order said that government should pay each affected child USD 31,500. This is the maximum allowed compensation under Canadian Human Rights Act. With some exceptions, parents and grandparents of the children were also eligible for compensation.

The tribunal’s ruling could cost the federal government billions of dollars.

Federal Court Justice Paul Favel rejected the government’s appeal and encouraged the two parties to continue negotiating.

“The parties must decide whether they will continue to sit beside the trail or move forward in this spirit of reconciliation,” Favel wrote, referring to an indigenous parable about a man who sits beside a trail for so long that it grows over and he loses his way.

Trudeau’s government could appeal the court’s decision. His government has argued in the past that although the human rights tribunal was correct in finding discrimination in the system, it overreached by ordering compensation.

The government is reviewing the decision and more information “will be forthcoming,” Marc Miller, minister for indigenous services, said in an emailed statement.

“Canada remains committed to compensating First Nations children who were removed from their families and communities,” he added.

Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society that brought the original complaint, said the ruling was “a complete rejection of all the government’s spurious arguments, and a complete win for kids.”