A class chief proposed for $ 2.1 billion to the courts on Monday, where the president of the Supreme Court of Manitoba will decide whether the provincial and federal governments failed the first nations through what the demand calls “the devastating management of the child welfare system.”
The chiefs of three nations of Manitoba, Black River First Nation, Pimicikamak Cree Nation and Misipawistik Cree Nation, together with the Manitoba Chief Assembly, launched the demand in October 2022.
The claim statement says they are looking for $ 2.1 billion in damages for the first nations harmed by the apprehension of children by children’s and family services agencies between 1992 and today.
It also seeks an order that ends the “unnecessary apprehension” of the children of the first nations based on “poverty, racial and cultural bias and systemic racism.”
“Under the pretext of providing attention, Manitoba and Canada have used discriminatory practices to destroy the families of the first nations. [and] Cultures, “according to the claim filed at the King’s Bench court.
The president of the Supreme Court, Glenn Joyal, will listen to arguments about the next five days on whether the lawsuit must be certified as a class action, and if he must go to a summary trial, which means that he can make a decision on the merits of the case without going to trial.
Thousands of document pages have been submitted by both parties, including reports, affidavits and jurisprudence.
Misipawistik’s nation head, Heidi Cook, is the main plaintiff in the case. He worked within the CFS system for years and saw the impact he had on families in his community, about 400 kilometers northwest of Winnipeg.
“It’s absolutely heartbreaking,” he said.
“When a child is stopped in a system, the child experiences a lot of trauma, the separation of his family, the uncertainty of what will happen … The family also experiences it. The nation loses its connection with their children.”
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The first nations say that they have collectively lost language, culture, identity and spirituality as a result of the historical policies of the child welfare system, according to judicial documents.
A report by the Vandna Sinha research teacher and the CFS Tara Petti consultant, commissioned by the plaintiffs, found that the Government emphasized financing for protection measures regarding children in care, instead of preventing their apprehension, according to a sworn statement of Sinha presented in 2024.
The report also found that:
- Manitoba has the highest rate of children in attention outside the home in Canada.
- From 2001 to 2021, the number of children under care increased from 5,440 to 9,850.
- The percentage of careful children who are indigenous increased from 80 percent in 2001 to 91 percent in 2021.
Both governments oppose the certification motion and summary judgment.
The province declined to comment as the issue is before the courts. The federal government did not respond to a request for comments before the publication.
Working to address ‘deficiencies’: province
In a summary of the 111 -page motion presented earlier this month, the provincial government recognizes that the CFS system has “deficiencies” and said “continues to make efforts to address them.”
Changes have been made in the child welfare system since 1992 in a “sincere attempt to improve the results,” the government said in the report.
The arguments of the first nations do not take into account the complex history of the SFC in Manitoba, according to the report.
He points out that the Federal Government stopped providing funds for people from the first out of service in 1992, leaving the province without financing to address their child welfare needs.
The negative results for the children of the first nations are not only due to the provincial government, the brief maintains. He says that CFS agencies, which make decisions to stop and are separate entities, also have responsibility.
In a separate report of 220 pages, the Attorney General of Canada wrote that he is “committed to reconciliation” and acknowledged that historical mistakes were made against the first nations in the administration of the child welfare system.
However, he argues that it has already been addressed in previous agreements.
In 2023, the Federal Court approved a Liquidation of $ 23 billion to compensate for an estimated 300,000 children from the first nations and their families for the chronic sub -financing of child welfare services in Canada’s reserve.
The summary said that Canada established two other class actions with the people of the first nations for damages caused by the system of residential schools and the scoop of the sixties.
“In addition to the numerous federal indigenous programs that existed in the last number of decades, Canada has also provided the first nations with a wide financing and programming to promote and revitalize languages, culture and indigenous traditions,” said The Motion Brief.
The Federal Government also argues that Manitoba had jurisdiction and legislative control over child welfare services, and in 2003, the province delegated the authority on the indigenous aspects of child welfare to four CFS authorities through a process known as return.
These authorities and their employees are responsible for administering and providing attention, says the report.
He also says that the federal government “did not provide direct funds for the delivery of child welfare services out of service.”
The Center for Public Interest, an arm of Manitoba’s legal assistance that represents groups and individuals on issues that affect the environment, human rights, indigenous peoples, consumers and low -income persons, represents the first nations, together with the firm of lawyers based in Toronto, McCarthy Tetrault.
“This case has the potential to establish important legal precedents related to the government’s obligation for the first nations by administering a vital importance, such as services for children and family,” said Peter Kingsley, executive director of Legal Assistance Manitoba in a prepared statement.
Cook said Misipawistik Cree Nation would use any possible liquidation money to finance healing programs.
“Terrestrial healing, support for families, prevention services, language revitalization: such things are really important” and are programs “that address the damages that have been created through this system,” he said.
