The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) has rejected the federal government’s $40-billion child welfare offer, saying it did not meet the promised $40,000 compensation for each First Nations child and caregiver harmed by discrimination and institutionalized mistreatment.
Cindy Blackstock, executive director of First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, told CTV News Channel on Tuesday that the $40,000 compensation is the minimum recognition of the indignity First Nations families experienced, explaining that a $20-billion cap for compensation came when Canada “agreed with class-action lawyers that this would be the amount they work with.”
“We’re talking about over a hundred thousand children removed from their families because the Canadian state gave their families less support to recover from the trauma of residential schools than people who didn’t go to residential schools.”
Blackstock said her message to Canada and tribunal leaders is this: “Make sure you don’t leave these people behind.”
“It appears that they started to realize that there were so many victims hurt by Canada that they weren’t able to include all of the victims that were legally entitled to the $40,000 and started to make those choices.”
Along with the cut costs, the tribunal also took issue with the shortened time frame for victims to opt out of the final settlement agreement.
The deal stipulates that claimants have until February 2023 to opt out of compensation and litigate on their own. If they don’t do this before the deadline, they won’t be able to take legal action individually.
“The Tribunal never envisioned disentitling the victims who have already been recognized before the Tribunal through evidence-based findings in previous rulings,” the decision said.
In January, the Ottawa announced it had reached agreements which includes $20 billion for compensation and another $20 billion to reform the First Nations child-welfare system over five years. The full $40 billion was allocated in the 2021 fiscal update.
Blackstock said these children and parents who were affected by Canada’s discrimination should be given what was promised in the ruling.
“When Canada announces its idea of going through the class action, the minister said 40 was the floor,” she said. “And that’s what should happen. Their [$40,000] should be paid.”
A day after a New York jury delivered a historic guilty verdict in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee held a press conference Friday where he spoke publicly about the conviction and his White House bid.
Women who closely followed a Mediterranean diet lived much longer than those who did not, according to a new study that followed more than 25,000 women for 25 years.
Newly released documents suggest Ontario’s so-called ‘Crypto King’ paid for months of world travels with $13,000 worth of Scene+ points while bankrupt – but how?
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.
Health officials in Newfoundland and Labrador say they are only weeks away from a solution to move unclaimed human remains out of roadside freezers and into a nearby hospital.
An actor who has appeared in film and TV projects like 'Rebel Moon' and 'How I Met Your Mother' has been arrested and charged with stabbing his estranged girlfriend multiple times.
American prosecutors and law enforcement officers say they're dealing with a huge increase in human smuggling from British Columbia.
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An incendiary device was thrown at a Vancouver synagogue Thursday night, leading to increased police presence at local institutions, the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver says.
An incendiary device was thrown at a Vancouver synagogue Thursday night, leading to increased police presence at local institutions, the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver says.
While mild – and in some cases damp – weather may be persisting in parts of B.C., provincial officials are scheduled to give an update Friday on the province's heat preparedness strategy for the summer months.
Gas prices in Metro Vancouver have taken a turn in favour of commuters.
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Toronto police say they will only take action to clear a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Toronto in case of emergency or to carry out a court order.
Police in York Region have released security video of a shooting at a home in Markham earlier this month.
After 30 years, the shops at Eau Claire Market will open for the last time on Friday, to make way for the Green Line LRT.
Jury selection is scheduled today for two men charged with conspiracy to commit murder during the 2022 border protest at Coutts, Alta.
Generations of Italian Canadians are celebrating the golden anniversary of a Calgary language school that’s been connecting community members for 50 years.
The 32-year-old man who worked as an educational assistant with Ottawa’s largest school board, who was charged with three sexual assaults in January, is now facing 14 additional charges.
The Department of National Defence is moving approximately 1,000 employees out of an office building in Ottawa's Lowertown neighbourhood, citing safety concerns for its employees.
A baby moose has been spotted Friday morning in the Beaverbrook neighbourhood of Kanata by a mother as she was dropping her daughter at daycare.
Robert Miller was charged Thursday with several sexual assault charges after Montreal police reopened an investigation into the tech billionaire.
Charlene Hunte says she was on her way to the Union United Church in Montreal's Little Burgundy neighbourhood when suddenly she was stopped by police.
Anyone planning on driving in and around Montreal on the weekend should note that there will be various road closures due to construction and bikes everywhere on Friday night and Sunday for the Tour la Nuit and Tour de l'Ile.
A man serving time for manslaughter is at large after escaping from a healing centre in Edmonton, the fourth to do so since the start of the year.
The man found dead in northwest Edmonton early Monday morning was shot.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry will be conducting training from Saturday to Tuesday involving plain-clothes members carrying imitation handguns.
Halifax Regional Police is searching for a man in connection with a stabbing that happened in Dartmouth, N.S., on Friday.
Halifax pedestrians got an unexpected sight Thursday night when they spotted a deer in the downtown area.
Some Maritimers are ditching their smartphones and social media accounts in an effort to cut back on screen time.
The days of picking geraniums, petunias, and other show-stopping flowers from Sumka Brothers Greenhouses are numbered.
The provincial government says it will provide housing and meals for the 250 residents evacuated from a St. James apartment complex earlier this month.
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Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation (STF) president Samantha Becotte and Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill both spoke Friday morning after teachers voted down a second offer from the province on Thursday.
A 41-year-old man is facing three counts of attempted murder after police say he intentionally rear ended another vehicle at a high rate of speed in Moose Jaw Thursday evening and then assaulted someone with a baseball bat.
A new professional hockey league start up has listed Saskatchewan among its targeted locations for franchises.
Waterloo regional police have arrested five teens after an alleged fight in Riverside Park.
A Canada-wide warrant has been issued for a Kitchener man accused of attempted murder.
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Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation (STF) president Samantha Becotte and Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill both spoke Friday morning after teachers voted down a second offer from the province on Thursday.
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Sudbury police continue to ask the public for help finding a woman missing since earlier this month as a massive ground search gets underway Friday.
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On Thursday, members of the street crime unit and the emergency response team used a search warrant at a property in Perth East.
Investigators with Ontario's Fire Marshal's Office and the Goderich Fire Department have determined that the fire that levelled Watson's Home Hardware over the weekend was not intentionally set.
Three people were airlifted to a trauma centre after a collision in the Township of Minden Hills involving five motorcycles and a pickup truck.
Two Barrie residents face nearly 60 charges after police say an officer was struck by a vehicle after approaching a driver slumped over the steering wheel in Oro-Medonte.
Plans are moving forward to get the Northlander passenger train back on the tracks.
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A Canadian navy sailor who brutally raped a woman on a British Columbia military base has been sentenced to three years and eight months in federal prison.
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The wet start to May has the City of Lethbridge's parks department delayed mowing in the city.
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Women who closely followed a Mediterranean diet lived much longer than those who did not, according to a new study that followed more than 25,000 women for 25 years.
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Eminem appears to be killing off his alter ego in his latest project, an album titled, 'The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace).'
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Loblaw is testing smaller-format discount stores across the country this year as shoppers increasingly look for ways to save on their grocery bill.
Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, the owner of social networking site Truth Social, slumped before the opening bell Friday after former U.S. president Donald Trump was convicted in his hush money trial.
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You'll have a lot more energy throughout the day if you get a good night's sleep, but not everyone does due to a medical condition.
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A day before 10 international teams hit the Halifax Harbour for the Rockwool Canada Sail Grand Prix races, drivers for each team took part in a news conference, answering questions about the season so far and what they expect moving forward.
The French interior minister said Friday that security authorities have foiled a plan to attack soccer events during the Paris Olympics.
The Toronto Blue Jays have unveiled their new City Connect jerseys.
The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday sued South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor Co., an auto parts plant and a labour recruiter over illegal use of child labour in Alabama.
Richard D'Agostino says he was aghast to find out that it was going to take him over an hour to get to Dollard-des-Ormeaux from downtown Montreal.
A new study finds fewer Canadians say they're interested in buying an electric vehicle as concerns remain about limited driving ranges, high prices and a lack of charging stations.
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