Beverly Andrews
APTN National News
Canada’s Minister of Indigenous Affairs Carolyn Bennett told the House of Commons Thursday that the damages awarded to Ontario 60’s scoop survivors will be done on a case by case basis.
In February of 2017, an Ontario judge ruled that Canada failed in its fiduciary duty to protect the culture of thousands of First Nations children taken from their families and put in non-Indigenous homes.
After the ruling, Canada said it would not appeal but negotiate a settlement.
Some survivors say the government is putting up roadblocks to avoid paying what is owed.
“The crown’s initial position which caused us grave concern was their submission that in fact, the judges ruling in February did not establish causation, which is a fancy way of saying – hadn’t really established that the breach of the agreement rendered the federal government liable for damages,” said Morris Cooper, the groups lawyer.
But Bennett said no two claims are the same and they must be worked out on their own.
“Taking action on the outstanding claim childhood claim and I have a mandate to negotiate with all sixty scoop plaintiffs as the courts have clearly laid out,” Bennett told the House. “No two experiences are the same, no two voices are identical, we believe that each individual deserves the justice they are entitled too.”
Things to take into consideration regarding compensation should also include: lost potential earnings due to a lack of post-secondary education. Just think that if you graduated from university/college at age 25 and worked to age 65 – that’s 40 years of ‘lost potential’ earnings. Your earnings would have been much higher with a higher education, which would have made a big difference in your lifestyle as well as your children. Your children lost out on some of the nicer things like going to camp, having basic necessities, maybe attending private school. Losing out on potential Band distributions, medical, housing, all of the other things that have been discussed, such as loss of family ties, language, culture and traditions. Abuse at the hands of the govt. run facilities, such as the Training Schools, foster homes, etc. I didn’t even do anything and got snatched and sent to juvenile court and then sentenced to an indefinite period in two different training schools..missed out on so much, but I’m still here and waiting for the government to pay up big – like I said no amount of money will undo the damage, however it will make life easier going forward, not only for us but for our children and grandchildren. Just my take..
Compensation to be considered need to include factors such as lost income potential due to lack of a college/university education because of many not knowing of their entitlement to a post-secondary education. If you graduated at age 25 and worked until 65 – that’s 40 years of ‘lost’ earning potential. It also affected our children due to lack of resources so they could have had a better childhood, such as attending private schools,going to camp, having basic necessities. Other benefits such as entitlement to medical, housing, and Band distribution inclusion are other things that need to be taken into consideration. I’m sure that these things will be brought up by the many women/men who will be able to address these issues during the hearings in October. Please let these issues be brought into the discussion when deciding on compensation. I know that no amount of money will ever take back what happened, however if can sure hit the government in the wallet and make our lives much better going forward, as well as our children.
And who is to say that some or maybe many of the children had to be removed because of dire circumstances in their homes?
The physical and sexual abusers of my brother and me have long since passed away. This is another way of the government to show their disrespect of the “Survivors” I do not know my language or culture but am slowly learning
Compensation for non-native cases with similar abuses were compensated far quicker than the 60’s scoop. Crimes against children were committed and perpetrators allowed to walk and live freely. Notes of such acts should be applied to criminal records when foster parent families can be easily found in CAS records. The courts have past and current cases to use as reference points to find decent compensation calculations. One has to agree, again, government is using ‘separatist’ methods for First Nations when resolution with common sense is right in our hands. Use the criminal code, past child abuse cases to find level of compensations available vs one on one cases.
Case by case .. well tell you this right now . That’s bullshit . The government screwed my grandmother, my mother and myself with there bullshit residential schools . Because my mother was abused and did not know how to take care of us due to the rapes , emotional abuse she suffered had huge impact on myself and siblings growing up we were taken from her places in white foster homes I was raped , molested , emotionally abused in these white homes . Did not get to learn my language. Your system raped me ,,,,