The first payments to First Nations people who were harmed by the underfunding of the child welfare system on-reserve and in Yukon are going out this week, according to the Assembly of First Nations (AFN).
At a news conference in Toronto on Thursday, AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said the moment was a “tremendous milestone” for people who waited decades as the case alleging the chronic underfunding of child and family services amounted to systemic racial discrimination was argued before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
“No amount of money will ever give back these people their childhood…. But this is a signal that they have been wronged,” she said in an interview with CBC Indigenous.
The payments are part of a $23.4-billion settlement for people removed from their homes on reserve or in the Yukon and placed in care funded by Indigenous Services Canada between April 1, 1991, and March 31, 2022.
Melissa Walterson, a representative plaintiff, was removed from her family at birth and said the issue of compensation was difficult for her.
“This is not a day of celebration. This is a day for the government to finally do something right,” she said at the news conference.
“It should never have been done. We should never have had to come to this day.”
Applicants waiting for approval
The claims process for the removed child class and removed child family class opened in March and earlier this month the AFN announced that more than 40,000 people had submitted claims so far. It’s been estimated that more than 140,000 people are currently eligible for compensation.
Lily Ieroniawá:kon Deer, from Kahnawà:ke outside of Montreal, grew up in care from age five to 14.
Now 30, she said she was nearly counting the minutes until she could make a claim.
“I filed the day it opened, like, I want to say before 8 a.m.,” she said.
Her claim is still being processed, she said.
“We’ve held our breath for this long and [we’re] kind of just continuing to hold our breath,” Deer said.
While she has resigned herself to a lengthy process, Deer said she still has concerns about how the program will unfold.
In order to limit retraumatization of survivors, which has been an issue in other claims processes, Woodhouse Nepinak said survivors are asked as few questions as possible when they file their claims.
Deer said she understands that was meant to avoid retraumatization but still wonders how payments will be determined.
Abuse in care not part of compensation
While the settlement agreement lays out a base level of payment, some former kids in care will be eligible for “enhanced compensation” based on the harm they suffered from being in care. The agreement says that claimants should know within six months of approval whether they have been approved for enhanced payments and why.
Lawyer David Sterns, class counsel and member of the settlement implementation committee, said under the agreement Canada is paying for having underfunded kids in care.
The settlement agreement says people can get enhanced payments for factors including their ages when entering and/or exiting care, the total amount of time spent in care, if they were removed from a northern or remote community and how many times they were taken into care.
If those people suffered abuse during their placements, he said they are able to pursue litigation against those who abused them — but it isn’t part of this compensation process.
For now, Sterns said people can expect to receive the base payment for their claim. It will take a while — possibly several years, he said — to determine how enhanced payments will unfold.
Those will be based on how much money is left after base compensation is paid, he said.
“I suspect there’ll be a fairly complicated formula to determine exactly what those amounts would be,” said Sterns.
Base compensation payments have now started and hundreds of people could receive their payments within the next week, according to Woodhouse Nepinak.
More people eligible
Woodhouse Nepinak said she’s pleased to see 40,000 people have submitted claims but that there are still many more eligible people — particularly caregivers of removed children.
Caregiving parents and grandparents of children who were removed from their homes are eligible for compensation. Applications from caregivers have been lower than anticipated, according to Sterns.
Woodhouse Nepinak said she has heard caregivers may be reluctant to apply for compensation because they’re afraid of having to tell their story. However, because of the way the process is designed, she said no one has to share their personal experience.
Woodhouse Nepinak said more education and outreach is needed to inform people who may be eligible, and claims helpers should be visiting communities and local events to connect with people.
“I just think we haven’t seen the outreach as much as we could have. Certainly we’ll be speaking to Deloitte about that,” she said.
Deloitte was appointed by the Federal Court as the third-party administrator responsible for implementing the settlement.
Additional classes, including a Jordan’s Principle class for children harmed by a delay or denial of an essential service, are still waiting for Federal Court approval before they will be able to submit claims, Woodhouse Nepinak said.
