The Federal Court today dismissed an application for a judicial review of a landmark human rights tribunal compensation order for First Nations children — leaving the federal government on the hook for billions of dollars in compensation related to the child welfare system.
Justice Paul Favel said today that the Attorney General of Canada, who had filed the application for a judicial review and a stay of the order from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, had “not succeeded in establishing that the compensation decision is unreasonable.”
The ruling was a “complete win” for children. will the federal government finally put down its sword and stop fighting First Nations children and treat them equally?
Cindy Blackstock, executive director – ‘First Nations Child and Family Caring Society’
The federal government had argued that the tribunal overreached and was wrong to order Ottawa to pay $40,000 — the maximum allowed under the Canadian Human Rights Act — to each child affected by the on-reserve child welfare system since 2006.
The tribunal also said the parents or grandparents of those children (depending on who was the primary guardian) would also be eligible for compensation, as long as the children were not taken into the child welfare system because of abuse.
Favel wrote that the tribunal “reasonably exercised its discretion” under the Act to “handle a complex case of discrimination to ensure that all issues were sufficiently dealt with and that the issue of compensation was addressed in phases.”
The federal government had argued that the tribunal overreached and was wrong to order Ottawa to pay $40,000 — the maximum allowed under the Canadian Human Rights Act — to each child affected by the on-reserve child welfare system since 2006.
Source link : – CBCNews
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