For help in paying the C$6,000 treatment, the family turned to a benefit program run by the federal government – which covers the cost of health services, basic dental care and orthodontic treatment when medically necessary for First Nations people living on reserves.

The family’s request was denied by the Health Canada, who said her condition was not serious enough to warrant braces. Three appeals of the department’s decision proved unsuccessful.

With the help of a lawyer working pro bono, the family took their case to the country’s federal court, where a judge determined that the denial of payment was “reasonable”.

During a span of 16 months, the federal government spent at least C$110,336.51 in legal fees to fight the request for payment. The legal costs are likely to rise, as the family filed an appeal of the federal court decision in June, arguing that it failed to take into account the chronic pain suffered by Willier as well as the eventual need for surgery.

“I think it’s atrocious,” Cindy Blackstock, whose First Nations Child and Family Caring Society intervened in the case, told the CBC. “As a taxpayer, I’m absolutely floored that Canada would spend $110,000 defending [against] a $6,000 investment to help a child. They could have used that money to buy 18 children in medical need the orthodontic services they needed.”