Displaying items by tag: compensation for indigenous children

Prime minister Justin Trudeau came into office promising to strengthen and restore ties with native communities and recently told reporters, ‘We are committed to compensating indigenous people who were harmed as children in child and family services’. Yet his government says it will appeal against a court order to pay billions of dollars to compensate indigenous children who went through the child welfare system. Last month, a tribunal upheld a 2016 ruling that the government underfunded First Nations services compared with those for non-indigenous children, and ordered $40,000 (£23,340) payouts to each child who was in the on-reserve welfare system after 2006. The case has been a source of tension between tribes and the government. The government has said it is not opposed to compensation, but that it had issues over the order's jurisdiction and how the money was to be divided.