Manitoba agrees to pay $530M in settlement over children's allowance
WINNIPEG -- The Manitoba government has agreed to pay $530 million to settle three class-action lawsuits over child welfare benefit payments in an agreement that plaintiffs say should send a message to other provinces.
The proposed settlement, which still requires court approval, would compensate an estimated 30,000 children, some of whom have since become adults, for money the province clawed back from federal payments between 2005 and 2019.
Similar lawsuits have been filed in Saskatchewan and Alberta
"(For) the province to assume, with no agreement and no authority and no provision in place, that they could somehow just take this money from the kids was in our opinion theft and wrong," Elsie Flette, one of the lead plaintiffs in the case, said Monday.
Flette was chief executive officer of a regional child welfare authority when, in 2005, the former NDP government in Manitoba started clawing back a federal benefit called the Children's Special Allowance. The money goes to agencies that care for children and mirrors the monthly Canada Child Benefit cheques given to parents raising children across the country.
The province had argued it was right to keep the federal money since it was paying for children in provincial care. At the same time, the number of children in care rose sharply. About 90 per cent of children in the system are Indigenous.
The plaintiffs said the money was supposed to pay for recreation programs, cultural activities, hockey and a host of other items not covered by basic child welfare funding.
"When a child who's in care of an agency needs some funding to visit family members, to travel to visit and participate in ceremonial activities ... that all could have happened with these (Children's Special Allowance) dollars," lawyer Kris Saxberg said.
The former Progressive Conservative government ended the clawback in 2019 but also tried to prevent any legal action via a bill in the legislature. In 2022, a Court of Queen's Bench justice ruled the province was wrong to have withheld the money and struck down the ban on legal action.
The Tories started discussions toward a settlement before losing the provincial election in October to the New Democrats.
The NDP government said Monday it is glad the dispute is headed to a resolution, once a judge approves the settlement.
"That was my number one priority (after being elected), was to make sure that we entered into negotiations in a good way, and that we action reconciliation on behalf of children," Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said.
"This is righting what was wrong."
More than half the money is to repay what was clawed back over the years, plus interest. The total settlement also includes an extra 20 per cent over what had been kept from the children, Saxberg said, as an award for discriminatory treatment compared with other children.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 25, 2024.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.