Federal Court certifies class action for off-reserve Indigenous kids in foster care

The Federal Court of Canada ruled the class period will cover from Jan. 1, 1992 to Dec. 31, 2019, which the plaintiffs call the period the "Millennium Scoop."

The Federal Court of Canada has certified a class-action lawsuit against the federal government on behalf of off-reserve Indigenous children who were taken from their families and placed in non-Indigenous care.

In a decision released online Monday, Federal Court Justice Michael Phelan ruled the class period will cover from Jan. 1, 1992 to Dec. 31, 2019, a period the Vancouver law firm representing the plaintiffs calls the “Millennium Scoop.”

The court decision says those affected include status and non-status Indians, Inuit and Metis youngsters and their families who were not living on reserves.

The class seeks various damages, restitution and recovery of specific costs on behalf of the affected children and families.

It alleges the federal government’s actions breached the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and demonstrated systemic negligence, although the claims haven’t been proven in court.

Vancouver lawyer Angela Bespflug, speaking on behalf of the plaintiffs, says certification “signals an important shift in the law,” because the federal government must now explain why it has treated off-reserve children differently from those living on-reserve.

“It is fundamentally wrong that Canada has agreed to compensate on-reserve children while leaving off-reserve children out in the cold,” Bespflug says in a statement issued by law firm Murphy Battista.

The federal government reached an agreement in principle last year to pay $40-billion to on-reserve youngsters and their families affected by discriminatory funding practices related to the child-welfare system.