Marc Miller with Francisco Cali Tzay, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
OTTAWA, Ont.-The Canadian federal government and 325 First Nations have agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit, seeking reparations for the loss of language and culture brought on by Indian residential schools, for $2.8 billion.
The case was initially filed by the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc and Shíshálh Nation in British Columbia because day scholars were left out of the 2005 residential schools settlement with the government. Day scholars are survivors who were forced to attend the institutions during the day but went home at night.
Like residential schools, day schools aimed to assimilate Indigenous children while eradicating Indigenous languages and cultures, and often had religious affiliations. There was also widespread abuse. There were 699 Federal Indian Day Schools or Federal Day Schools recognized in a 2019 class action settlement, and they operated across Canada in every province and territory except Newfoundland. The first day schools opened in the early 1860s. Many closed or were transferred to the community's control from the 1970s on, with the last school transferring in 2000.
Canada agreed to pay the $2.8 billion of settlement money into a new trust fund that will operate for 20 years, if the court approves the deal. The fund will be run independent of the federal government, according to officials.
As part of the agreement, the band class members agreed to "fully, finally and forever" release the Crown from claims that could conceivably arise from the collective harms residential schools inflicted on First Nations, as alleged in a previous court filing.
This legal release would not cover or include any claims that may arise over children who died or disappeared while being forced to attend residential school, the agreement says.
The fund organization will be governed by a board of nine Indigenous directors, the agreement says. More details of how funds will be disbursed are expected in the months to come. Under the agreement, there will be an initial payment of $200,000 to all 325 First Nations, which will allow them all to create a 10-year plan for how they want to revitalize their language and culture. Beyond the $200,000 there will be a rate based on population.
"While settlements like those . . . do not make up for the past, what it can do is address the collective harm caused by Canada's past," said Marc Miller, the minister for Crown-Indigenous relations. "The loss of language, the loss of culture and heritage."
Miller noted that this was the first time bands specifically were being compensated, with the funds set to support the four pillars of revival, protection, promotion and wellness of Indigenous languages and cultures.
