A memorial outside the former Kamloops Indian Residential School
OTTAWA, Jan 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Canadian federal government has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by two British Columbia First Nations for the loss of language and culture caused by residential schools.
According to a press release issued by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada on Saturday, Canada will provide 2.8 billion Canadian dollars (about 2.1 billion U.S. dollars) to be placed in a not-for-profit trust. “This trust, independent of the Government, will be guided by the Four Pillars developed by the Representative Plaintiffs.”
The government is committed to addressing the collective harm caused by the residential schools system and the loss of language, culture, and heritage, said the release.
The Four Pillars include the revival and protection of Indigenous languages, the revival and protection of Indigenous cultures, the protection and promotion of heritage, and wellness for Indigenous communities and their members, it said.
“While settlements like those announced Saturday … do not make up for the past, what it can do is address the collective harm caused by Canada’s past,” said Marc Miller, the minister for Crown-Indigenous relations, at a Vancouver event Saturday morning. “The loss of language, the loss of culture and heritage.”
Miller noted that this was the first time bands specifically were being compensated, with the funds set to support the four pillars of revival, protection, promotion and wellness of Indigenous languages and cultures.
Plaintiffs in the case, which was initially filed by the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc and shíshálh Nation in British Columbia, developed a disbursement plan for the funds, according to officials.
The Gottfriedson case is named after a former B.C. regional chief, Shane Gottfriedson, who filed it alongside shíshálh band councillor Garry Feschuk.
It initially consisted of the combined band reparations claim (known as the band class) and the residential school day scholars claim. Day scholars are survivors who were forced to attend the institutions during the day but went home at night, and were left out of the 2006 residential schools settlement.
The Trudeau government reached an out-of-court settlement with day scholars in June 2021, agreeing to pay cash compensation to survivors and their descendants, settling part of the Gottfriedson case.
Further information on the terms of the settlement will be publicly available over the next month as part of the broader notice plan. The parties are expected to appear before the Federal Court on Feb. 27 to seek approval of the terms of the settlement, the release said. — NNN-AGENCIES
