Payments start for first claimants in First Nations child welfare case

AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak takes part in a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA — Some claimants are now receiving compensation payments through a $23-billion settlement for more than 300,000 First Nations children and their families.

The settlement is meant to compensate children and their families for Canada’s chronic underfunding of on-reserve child welfare services.

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak says the start of compensation payments marks an important milestone.

Woodhouse Nepinak says more than 40,000 claims have now been received but there are still many more eligible claimants who haven’t yet submitted applications.

The settlement agreement, which recognizes nine distinct groups of claimants, was opened to the first two groups in March.

Individuals who were removed from their families on reserves or in Yukon between April 1, 1991 and March 31, 2022, as well as parents or grandparents of those individuals, are now eligible to apply for and receive payments.

With files from Alessia Passafiume.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 14, 2025.

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press