The Liberal government led by Justin Trudeau is challenging a landmark human rights ruling to compensate apprehended First Nations children harmed by the on-reserve child welfare system and under-funded child and family services.

The Attorney General of Canada filed with the Federal Court today an application for a judicial review and for a stay of the ruling — just two weeks before the federal election and days before the Oct. 7 deadline for filing an appeal.

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ordered the federal government on Sept. 6 to pay $40,000 — the maximum allowed under the Canadian Human Rights Act — to each child taken from homes and communities under the on-reserve child welfare system from Jan. 1, 2006, to a date to be determined by the tribunal.

The ruling also directed Ottawa to compensate some of the parents and grandparents of children who were apprehended.

The decision could leave the federal government on the hook for billions of dollars in compensation.





Trudeau said he is not challenging the tribunal's conclusion that compensation should be awarded.

"We need to compensate those who've been harmed, but the question is how to do that," Trudeau said in Saint-Anaclet, Que., Friday. "We need to have conversations with partners, we need to have conversations with communities, with leaders to make sure we're getting that compensation right. Those are conversations that we cannot have during a writ period."

But that's not what his government's application says.

It calls for an order setting aside the tribunal's decision and dismissing the claim for monetary compensation. In the absence of such an order, the federal government is asking for an order setting aside the tribunal's decision and referring the matter back to the tribunal for review in accordance with directions set by the Federal Court.

Ottawa rejects premise that discrimination is ongoing

The application says Canada acknowledges the finding of systematic discrimination and does not oppose the principle of compensating First Nations individuals affected by a discriminatory funding model — but it argues the compensation ordered by the tribunal to kids, their parents and grandparents is inconsistent with the nature of the complaint and the evidence presented.

In its reasons for finding the tribunal erred, the federal government also takes issue with the determination that discrimination with Canada's funding for child and family services on-reserve and in the Yukon is ongoing.

And it raises concerns with giving the tribunal the jurisdiction to accept compensation payments and establishing new categories of persons who may receive it.

View photos Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press More

"They're asking for a full quashing of the tribunal's order," said Cindy Blackstock, the executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, which is one of the organizations that brought forward the initial complaint to the tribunal.

"It's really disappointing. It really suggests to me that Canada continues to not accept responsibility for its conduct as resulting in the unnecessary family separations of First Nations children in levels far higher than at residential schools and, in some cases, the deaths of children."

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