Indigenous child-welfare settlement heading back to Canadian Human Rights Tribunal
A multibillion-dollar settlement for children and families harmed by Ottawa's underfunding of on-reserve services is heading back to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal for approval, as both sides seek to turn the page on a dark chapter in Canada's history.
Federal ministers and First Nations representatives presented the revised $23-billion compensation package to Canadians on Wednesday after it was endorsed the day before by delegates from the Assembly of First Nations.
"Once the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has endorsed this agreement, it will then be taken to the Federal Court of Canada for approval in late spring or early summer of 2023," said Manitoba regional chief Cindy Woodhouse, who has led the file for the assembly.
"Once all these approvals have been granted, the claims process will begin in late 2023 or early 2024. And funds will start to flow thereafter."
The latest settlement offer comes more than 15 years after the assembly and the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society jointly launched a human-rights complaint that sparked the years-long legal battle with Ottawa.
The 2007 complaint revolved around allegations that Ottawa's underfunding of on-reserve child welfare services amounted to discrimination, and that First Nations children were denied equal access to support ranging from school supplies and medical equipment.
The tribunal eventually ruled in the complainants' favour, setting off a range of lawsuits, appeals and proposed settlements, including one last year in which Ottawa offered to spend $20 billion to reform the child-welfare system and another $20 billion on compensation.
But the tribunal rejected that proposal over concerns that not all eligible claimants would receive compensation. The new deal includes an extra $3 billion to compensate another 13,000 people and makes other amendments both sides hope will satisfy the tribunal's concerns.
Those who qualify will receive at least $40,000, with some receiving more, as the government has agreed to pay interest on the payments.
Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu said during a news conference with Woodhouse and others that the latest compensation package represents the largest settlement offer in Canadian history.
"The revised agreement, as I said, isn't going to make people whole," she added. "No amount of money can make people whole. But it is an important piece of healing because it's an acknowledgment of the discrimination."
Hajdu drew a direct link between Ottawa's failure to provide proper funding for child-welfare services in First Nations communities and the discovery of 33-year-old Linda Mary Beardy's body in a Winnipeg landfill on Monday.
"There's no coincidence that Indigenous people face higher rates of violence, Indigenous women and girls face higher rates of violence, and it's connected to what we're here to talk about today: compensation for a discriminatory system," she said.
"That meant that children didn't get a fair chance. They didn't get a fair start. And they were in many cases ripped away from families, from moms and dads and aunties and community and language and culture and connection."
Ashley Bach, who was taken from her family and First Nations community in northwestern Ontario shortly after birth, described the proposed settlement as "a step towards enabling our healing of the harms that we've experienced and suffered."
"I'm hoping that this compensation will be one way that we (will) be able to return home, be able to learn our languages, even go to school and use to raise our families," she said.
Yet even as Woodhouse and Bach welcomed the revised deal, they echoed calls from the Assembly of First Nations for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to issue a formal apology as part of the final settlement.
Neither Hajdu nor Marc Miller, the minister for Crown-Indigenous relations, addressed such calls during Wednesday's news conference. The Prime Minister's Office did not respond to requests for comment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 5, 2023.
IN DEPTH
Jagmeet Singh pulls NDP out of deal with Trudeau Liberals, takes aim at Poilievre Conservatives
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled his party out of the supply-and-confidence agreement that had been helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberals in power.
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Air Canada union head says she'll resign if pilots reject deal
The head of the Air Canada pilots union says she'll step down if members opt not to approve a tentative deal with the airline, raising the stakes as aviators mull whether to accept hefty salary gains or drive an even harder bargain.
2 suspended from U.S. college swim team after report of slur scratched onto student's body
At least two students at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania have been suspended from the swim team after a report that a racial slur was scratched onto a student's body, officials said.
How does your health measure up? Criticism of long-time tool used to track progress
Body mass index, a long-time tool used to measure a person's health, may soon be out the door as some health professionals push for a system they say is more accurate.
Sunken superyacht believed to contain watertight safes with sensitive intelligence data
Specialist divers surveying the wreckage of the US$40 million superyacht that sank off Sicily in August, killing seven people including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, have asked for heightened security to guard the vessel, over concerns that sensitive data locked in its safes may interest foreign governments, multiple sources told CNN.
Kate, the Princess of Wales, makes first public appearance after cancer treatment
Kate, the Princess of Wales, made her first public appearance Sunday since she announced she had completed chemotherapy and would return to some public duties.
North Carolina's Robinson, omitted from Trump rally, avoids comment on report about online posts
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson avoided directly weighing in during a gubernatorial campaign event Saturday on a CNN report outlining evidence that he made disturbing posts on a pornography website's message board more than a decade ago.
'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' scares off 'Transformers' for third week as box office No. 1
Tim Burton's legacy sequel to the 1988 horror comedy topped the North American box office charts for a third
Netanyahu considering plan to force all Palestinian civilians out of northern Gaza to besiege Hamas
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering a plan to force all Palestinian civilians out of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, in order to lay siege to Hamas and force the release of hostages.
Mass shooting kills 4 and wounds 17 in nightlife district in Birmingham, Alabama
A mass shooting killed four people and wounded 17 others in a popular nightlife area in Birmingham, Alabama, with many of the victims caught in the crossfire, police said Sunday.
Local Spotlight
Cole Haas is more than just an avid fan of the F.W. Johnson Wildcats football team. He's a fixture on the sidelines, a source of encouragement, and a beloved member of the team.
Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.
An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.