The federal government has agreed to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars for damage caused at Indian hospitals.
There were considered to be 33 Indian hospitals in the country running between 1936 and 1981.
According to reports, many of the patients sent to these hospitals were treated for tuberculosis with some alleging they were subject to medical experiments.
In 2018, a class-action lawsuit was launched against the government over these hospitals claiming Indigenous people were forcibly admitted to these institutions and suffered severe consequences as a result.
The lawsuit was certified in 2020.
On Thursday morning in Ottawa, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree announced survivors and the government had entered an agreement in principle on the matter.
“This proposed settlement marks a significant milestone in Canada’s effort to resolve historical Indigenous claims and represents continued progress towards renewed partnership and healing,” said Anandasangaree. “It is a priority to ensure that survivors are well supported and not re-victimized in this process.”
The settlement is now awaiting approval from a federal court.
Ann Hardy a Metis woman from Fort Smith, N.W.T., was the representative plaintiff in the case.
She says she was sexually and psychologically abused at an Indian hospital in Edmonton.
“I did not start this class action to get paid,” said Hardy. “I started it because I needed Canada to acknowledge what it did to us. I’m so glad that has now happened.”
The total amount of compensation agreed to was not announced on Thursday.
The government says there will be individual compensation to former patients.
Canada has also agreed to provide $150 million for healing, reconciliation, and commemoration activities, $235.5 million to support research, education, and the preservation of the history of the hospitals, and another $150 million to extend existing mental health supports for members of the class-action lawsuit.
The original lawsuit was seeking $1.1 billion in damages.
(TOP PHOTO – Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree shakes hands on a visit to Saskatchewan. File photo)