OTTAWA -- The federal government鈥檚 request to stay the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal鈥檚 order for it to compensate First Nations kids affected by a discriminatory child welfare system has been denied by the Federal Court.
The court ruled today against Ottawa鈥檚 request to eliminate the deadline to compensate affected families.
The court has also denied the respondent First Nations Child and Family Caring Society鈥檚 request to adjourn or stay the Crown's application for a judicial review of the tribunal鈥檚 decision that first ordered the compensation, meaning the compensation will go ahead.
鈥淓ssentially the judgement today said, 鈥楪et to work,鈥欌�� David Taylor, lawyer for First Nations Child and Family Caring Services Society told 麻豆传媒 of the decision.
鈥淭his is a decision saying Canada has to come back to the table.鈥�
Canada was challenging the tribunal鈥檚 ruling ordering the federal government to pay $40,000 to every child who was improperly taken away from their parents after 2006, which would cover more than 50,000 children. The parents and grandparents whose children were taken were also to be compensated.
The Liberal government, through its lawyers, asked the Federal Court to stay the order, which imposed a Dec. 10 deadline for the government to come up with a plan on how it would provide payment to victims of the underfunding of on-reserve family services. The deadline was then moved to Jan. 29, 2020. The First Nations Caring Society called on the court to let the tribunal set up the compensation process.
鈥淲e will continue to seek a solution that will provide comprehensive, fair and equitable compensation for First Nations children in care,鈥� said Indigenous Services Minister Mark Miller鈥檚 office in a statement. 鈥淲e can accomplish this through constructive conversations with partners about how to better compensate all affected children,鈥� the statement read.
Lawyers finalized their arguments in Federal Court on Tuesday and Justice Paul Favel said he would deliver his decision as soon as possible, according to reporting by The Canadian Press.
In the ruling issued Friday the judge found that Canada 鈥渉as not satisfied the three-part test to stay the decision鈥� of the tribunal鈥檚 compensation ruling, but that the Caring Society had also 鈥渘ot satisfied the Court that it should exercise its discretion to stay or adjourn鈥� the federal government鈥檚 judicial review application.
What the ruling means, Taylor said, is that the compensation process is able to go ahead without being stalled while the government performs their judicial review of the order.
鈥淭he next step in this process in terms of compensation is going to be going back to the tribunal to figure out the process for finding the people who were discriminated against and figuring out how to get the funds that they鈥檙e entitled to them,鈥� Taylor said on CTV鈥檚 Power Play. 鈥淎t the same time we鈥檒l be in federal court because Canada still is moving forward with this judicial review to say that the order should be quashed and that there shouldn鈥檛 be compensation paid, which of course is a contradiction to the statements earlier today from Minister Miller.鈥�
Taylor said that it has been 鈥渁lmost 13 years since the complaint was filed,鈥� and almost four years since 鈥渢he decision that the discrimination had occurred came out.鈥� Which families will receive compensation is something that will be negotiated between the Assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society.
The Canadian Press reported previously that the Justice Department lawyer, Robert Frater, explained that the government did intend to compensate Indigenous children and families, but wanted to do so by a different process than the tribunal鈥檚 ruling.
A separate but related class-action lawsuit filed earlier this year seeks $6 billion in damages for Indigenous children, and would cover all victims going back to 1991 -- meaning it could affect more victims than the tribunal鈥檚 recent order, which only accounts for victims and families since 2006. This was the government鈥檚 argument in court, according to The Canadian Press.
Lawyers for the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society have pointed out, however, that it is possible for the government to pay the victims outlined in the tribunal鈥檚 order while also extending compensation to victims from other lawsuits.
鈥淚n the next two months, between now and Jan. 29, the three parties have to see if we can come up with a plan for how to find the victims and get compensation to them,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥淚n the meantime, the federal court process will move forward.
鈥淭he government is saying that the tribunal doesn鈥檛 have the jurisdiction to (order compensation), and we disagree, and that鈥檚 something that the federal court is going to have to decide.鈥�
With files from The Canadian Press
