The Queen’s Bench Court judge found that the Manitoba government used federal funding for the province’s child care. The case was filed in 2018 by a group of Indigenous child welfare agencies.
The case relates specifically to Child Special Allowance (CSA), which must provide children in care with the same funding as other children through Canada Child Benefit or Child Disability Benefit.
Between 2006 and 2019, the Manitoba government is asking child -serving agencies to transfer money here fromESAsaying that to him, because the province funded the care of the children he fostered.
A group of child welfare agencies and Indigenous organizations in Manitoba filed a civil lawsuit against the government in 2018.
The Progressive Conservative government ended this practice in 2019.
Another constitutional legal challenge targeting Manitoba was filed by 19 Indigenous child welfare agencies and the Southern Chiefs Organization. These are challenging laws aimed at protecting the government against attempts to recover these amounts.
On Thursday, Court of Queen’s Bench Judge James Edmond ruled that the Manitoba government’s actions were unconstitutional because they violate federal law.
Justice James Edmond also agreed with plaintiffs who say Manitoba’s policies discriminate against Indigenous children, as they make up nearly 90% of the children in care.
We are glad that someone in power, a judge, said it was theft and it would stopsaid one of plaintiff’s attorneys Shawn Scarcello.
Possible class action
Lawyers representing the plaintiffs estimate that the county has so far diverted more than $ 334 million allocated for children in care, including $ 251 million from Indigenous children’s health agencies.
The next step, they said, is a related class action lawsuit against the province to ensure those who should have benefited from the fund receive compensation.
Indigenous agencies and leaders hope the Manitoba government will not appeal the decision.
” Stop hurting our children by keeping the intergenerational disadvantage behind them […] Give them back the money you stole from them. “
Wednesday afternoon, the office of the Minister of Families, Rochelles Squires, responded with a written statement.
The policy of not providing payment to Indigenous children in the care of child welfare agencies was put in place by the New Democratic Party government in 2006. We ended this training in our first termrecollection of the Minister.
Our government is committed to protecting vulnerable children in care, and we have begun a process of change in the child welfare system, including reducing the number of children in care for the sake of reconciliation with countries. We are grateful to Judge Edmond for his decision and we are in the process of reviewing it he added.
With information from Sarah Petz
Source: Radio-Canada
