Feds file judicial review of $40B Indigenous child-welfare settlement

By The Canadian Press on November 23, 2022.

OTTAWA – The federal government is asking a judge to review some aspects of the $40-billion settlement agreement over discrimination in the Indigenous child-welfare system, after the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal rejected the deal in late October.

The tribunal’s finding threw the landmark settlement – the largest in Canadian history – into question.

In 2019, the tribunal ordered the federal government to compensate children and families.

The ruling came three years after its verdict that Ottawa had discriminated against First Nations children for years by not properly funding child-welfare services on reserves.

The federal government, Assembly of First Nations and lawyers for two related class-action lawsuits announced a deal to pay that compensation in January.

In a joint statement today, three federal cabinet ministers say the judicial review Canada is seeking will not impede work with the parties to determine how to distribute compensation to children and families in areas of agreement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 23, 2022.

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