Canadian justice approved on Tuesday, October 24, the largest compensation agreement in the country’s history: 23.4 billion Canadian dollars (15.8 billion euros) in compensation for indigenous people and their families who were victims of discrimination. by the child protection system. This dispute is based on the Canadian government’s underfunding of services for indigenous children compared to those intended for non-indigenous children.
Because although they represent less than 8% of children under the age of 14 in Canada, indigenous young people, some 300,000, constituted more than half of those placed in the child protection system, according to a census of 2016.
“I think of all the victims and I look forward to seeing the support offered to all (…)”reacted on X Cindy Blackstock, who filed a complaint in 2007 before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to denounce racial discrimination against indigenous children.
“Compensation is essential”
In addition to the $23.4 billion in compensation, the settlement also provides for investments of 20 billion Canadian dollars (13.75 billion euros) intended for reform of the system, according to a spokesperson for the Canadian government.
“While nothing can compensate for the harm and pain caused, compensation is essential”Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu told reporters, calling the day a“historic for Canada”. The minister also added that the contribution of indigenous organizations in this matter will help move Canada forward. “on the path to reconciliation”.
Since spring 2021, more than a thousand anonymous graves have been found on the sites of former Catholic residential schools for indigenous people, shedding light on a dark chapter in the country’s history and its policy of forced assimilation, considered since 2015 like a “cultural genocide”.
From the end of the 19th centurye century to the 1990s, some 150,000 Indigenous children were forcibly placed in 139 now-closed residential schools, where they were cut off from their families, language and culture. During a visit to Canada in the summer of 2022, Pope Francis asked “forgiveness for the wrong committed” against the indigenous people of the country.