Canadian Human Rights Tribunal Approves Revised Compensation Settlement for First Nations Children Who Suffered Under Child Welfare System

A revised settlement to compensate First Nations children who suffered under the discriminatory child welfare system has been approved.

Today, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal issued their approval of the new deal, after rejecting an initial agreement reached last year.

Originally, the Tribunal had ordered Ottawa to pay $40,000 in compensation to each child removed from their homes and families since 2006.

It also ordered equal payments for those denied Jordan’s Principle coverage between 2007 and 2017.

Last July, the Assembly of First Nations agreed to a $40 billion settlement, half of which would be earmarked for compensation.

But the deal was rejected by the Tribunal due a failure to cover many victims and survivors already recognized in the order.

It had left out children from non-federally funded facilities, the estates of deceased caregivers, caregivers who had more than one child removed, and more.

But the revised agreement, now valued at $23.4 billion, will ensure that all those covered under the initial order receive compensation.

It does not, however, cover the second part of the original deal, which focuses on reforming the still-problematic system.

Negotiations on how that will look are underway, with the compensation package now headed back to Federal Courts for final approval within 15 days.

You can find the approval letter from the Tribunal at this link.

If approved, next steps for compensation will be available at this link.