Labrador residential school lawsuit approved

The Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appealhas backed the certification of a class-action lawsuit involvingthousands of aboriginal people who attended residential schools and allege they were unfairly excluded from a federal compensation settlement.

Wednesday's decisionfollows an appeal of aJune 2010 decision by the Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court that gave the class action the go-ahead.

"Individuals who attended schools in Newfoundland and Labrador were excluded from the settlement," said a news release Wednesday from Ches Crosbie,a lawyer representing the Innu, Inuit and Mtis claimants.

"[The court's] decision confirms that claims against the government of Canada respecting the operation of schools attended by Inuit, Innu and Mtis persons and located in Cartwright, Northwest River, St. Anthony, Nain and Makkovik, can proceed as class actions."

In 2005, Ottawa announced a $2-billion compensation package for aboriginal people who were forced to attend residential schools across Canada from 1949 to 1979.

Two years later, the federal government formalized a $1.9-billion compensation package. The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement includes an initial payout for each person who attended a residential school of $10,000, plus $3,000 per year. Approximately 86,000 people are eligible for compensation.

The federal government is denying any responsibility for the treatmentof aboriginal children in Labrador because the schools therewere not funded directly by Ottawa.

However, Crosbie's release said: "The claims, which have not yet beenproven in court, allege that the government of Canada participated in a scheme to obliterate aboriginal languages, traditions and beliefs in Labrador, through requirement that schoolchildren reside at institutions isolated from their families and communities.

"The claims allege negligence and breach of fiduciary duty," it adds.

Lawyers estimateas many as 6,000 people could be covered by the class action, withabout 4,000 of them constituents of thenorthern Labrador Inuit Nunatsiavut government.

In the news release, Danny Pottle, an official with the Nunatsiavut government, called on the federal government to drop its policy of excluding Labrador Inuit, Innu and Mtis from the national reconciliation process.