By Joe Hernandez, Photo: Cole Burston/AFP/Getty Images, National Public Radio, December 14, 2021
The Canadian government will set aside $40 billion — more than $30 billion in U.S. currency — to compensate Indigenous people who faced abuses as children in the country's residential schools, officials announced Monday. The funds will also be used to reform the country's troubled child welfare system.
The pledge comes amid ongoing negotiations between Canadian authorities and First Nations groups over how to make amends for the historical mistreatment of Indigenous children.
"We have been unequivocal throughout these historic negotiations: we will compensate those harmed by the federal government's discriminatory funding practices and we will lay the foundation for an equitable and better future for First Nations children, their families and communities," Minister of Indigenous Services Patty Hajdu and Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller said in a joint statement.
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