OVERVIEW

Indigenous Youth in Ontario

The Claims: This case makes two types of claims.

Child Services: First, it alleges that the governments of Canada and Ontario (1) did not adequately fund child services for indigenous children; (2) implemented funding structures and policies that prioritized removing Indigenous children from their homes instead of providing Indigenous parents with services to care for their children at home; (3) failed to consider placing Indigenous children in customary care; and (4) placed Indigenous children in culturally and physically unsafe settings, in which the children had limited to no access to their families, communities, cultures, or languages.

Essential Services: Second, it alleges that the governments of Canada and Ontario failed to provide, or delayed in providing essential health and social services to Indigenous children.

The Class: This case seeks to represent:

(1) all off-reserve Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) children in Ontario who were removed from their homes while they were under the age of 18, since 1992;

(2) all off-reserve Indigenous children in Ontario who were denied prompt access to an essential service, since 1992; and

(3) the caregiving parents and grandparents of those children.

Our Partners: We are bringing this claim and parallel claims in other provinces with a consortium of firms across the country, including Cochrane Saxberg (Manitoba), Murphy Battista (BC), Miller Titerle (BC), and Kugler Kandestin (Quebec).

The court will decide at a later date if the case will proceed as a class action.

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