OTTAWA—A settlement in the nation-wide Federal Indian Day Schools class action suit took a giant step forward following the March 12 announcement of a proposed settlement to compensate survivors for harms they suffered while attending federally operated schools that ran in conjunction with the residential school system.
The proposed settlement with the federal government will include everyone who attended a Federal Indian Day School. Compensation will range from $10,000 for “harms associated with attending a Federal Indian Day School” up to a maximum of $200,000—depending on the severity of abuse suffered. Eligible class members will receive a payment reflecting the most severe harms they suffered while attending an Indian Day School, irrespective of the number of schools attended.
The proposed settlement would also include a $200 million legacy fund intended to support “commemoration projects, health and wellness programs, as well as language and culture initiatives for communities.”
The class action began in 2009, when the late Garry McLean (Mr. McLean passed away from cancer at age 67 this past February) launched a class action lawsuit against Canada seeking compensation for the harms suffered by Indigenous students who were forced to attend Federal Indian Day Schools across Canada. The survivors of the Federal Indian Day Schools were specifically excluded from the earlier Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.
“He was just a small boy of six or seven years old when he began attending the Dog Creek Day School on his First Nation,” the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said in a statement. “Mr. McLean has said the school bell rang at 9 am and at 9:05 am he was getting the strap because he did not know how to say ‘good morning’ in English.”
In 2009, Mr. McLean became the lead plaintiff in the $15 billion class action lawsuit against the government of Canada
About 200,000 Indigenous children attended the federally run day schools during the reign of a government policy that began in the 1920s and ran separately but largely concurrently with the residential school system. In the day school program Indigenous children experienced many of the same traumas as their compatriots in the residential school system, but returned home each evening to their families.
“This agreement will bring us one step closer to a lasting and meaningful resolution for survivors and their families of this dark and tragic chapter in Canadian history,” said Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett during a March 12 ceremony held in Ottawa to announce the proposed settlement. “Many Canadians are aware of the tragic legacy of Indian residential schools but … a lot did not know, and most Canadians still do not know, that beginning in the 1920s, 200,000 students attended federally operated Indian Day Schools,” Minister Bennett said.
“They left school at the end of the day but many experienced trauma and were subject to physical and sexual abuse at the hands of individuals who had been entrusted with their care.”
Minister Bennett expressed dismay that Mr. McLean did not live to see the results of his efforts come to fruition.
During the December 6 announcement that the federal government intended to seek a settlement, rather than appeal the court judgement, Mr. McLean said that he, and his family, have since forgiven the Canadian people for what they had endured in the Indian Day School system and were moving forward in a spirit of reconciliation.
The final hurdle for the class action suit will come in the form of scrutiny by the justice overseeing the case, as the court must approve the settlement before the process of applying for individual compensation can be formalized.
The settlement approval hearings will take place at the Federal Court in Winnipeg between May 13 and 15. Class members wishing to attend the hearing may do so. Those who wish to speak at the hearings, either in support of the proposed settlement or to share their concerns, are to be able to do so at this time. The court will then announce its decision regarding the settlement approval after the hearings conclude, sometime after May 15. If the settlement is approved, class members will have an opportunity to opt out of the settlement. Those who opt out will not receive compensation from this settlement, but they will retain the right to bring their own claim against Canada for harms suffered.
