Iran Press/ America: Canada's Federal Court on Wednesday upheld a human rights tribunal ruling ordering the Canadian government to compensate indigenous children and families in foster care for suffering discrimination.
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled in 2016 that the federal government allocated fewer funds for child and family services of indigenous people than for non-indigenous people, pushing more indigenous children into foster care.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government appealed the tribunal's follow-up order in 2019 that Ottawa pays each affected child C$40,000 ($31,500), the maximum allowed under the Canadian Human Rights Act. The tribunal also said that with some exceptions, parents or grandparents of the children would also be eligible for compensation.
The tribunal's ruling could cost the federal government billions of dollars.
Trudeau's government could appeal the court's decision. His government has argued in the past that although the human rights tribunal was correct in finding discrimination in the system, it overreached by ordering compensation.
In all, 130 boarding schools forcibly separated more than 150,000 indigenous children from their families. They had them attend state-funded schools in a campaign aimed at forcibly assimilating the minors into Canadian society. Thousands of children died of disease, malnutrition, neglect, and other causes at the schools, where physical as well as sexual abuse was rife.
Indigenous people, who make up less than 5% of the population, face higher levels of poverty and violence and shorter life expectancies.
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