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Inuit Nunavik Youth Underfunding Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: Lucy Tookalook and Tanya Jones filed a class action lawsuit against the governments of Canada and Quebec.
- Why: Tookalook and Jones claim Canada and Quebec have violated the constitutional rights of Inuit youth in the Northern Quebec region of Nunavik by underfunding child welfare and other services meant for them for decades.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of Québec.
Inuit youth in the Northern Quebec region of Nunavik have filed a class action lawsuit against the governments of Canada and Quebec, claiming they have for decades been systematically underfunding child welfare and other services meant for them.
Plaintiffs Lucy Tookalook and Tanya Jones claim Canada and Quebec, which have a shared responsibility to care for the Inuit population in Northern Quebec, have violated their constitutional right to equality by not providing Inuit youth with the same level of social and health services as that of other Canadian children.
Tookalook and Jones claim the provincial governments have for decades declined to adequately fund, staff or support child welfare systems for Inuit youth on the same level as for non-Inuit children.
“This discriminatory treatment is rooted in the apathy and racism that the Respondents have historically exhibited towards the Inuit in Nunavik,” the class action lawsuit states.
Inuit youth who did come in contact with the child welfare system were either unnecessarily placed in the care of the state or ignored entirely, according to the class action lawsuit.
Further, Tookalook and Jones claim Canada and Quebec failed to adjust its care for Inuit youth to take into account their unique circumstances, including the intergenerational trauma and historical disadvantages they have had to face and endure.
The claims were similar to those lobbied in a class action lawsuit against Ottawa in 2019 that argued the province had under-resourced child welfare services for First Nations children in Canada.
Claims Of Mistreatment Of Indigenous Individuals Nothing New
The class action lawsuit is only the latest involving claims of discrimination and mistreatement of Inuit people in Canada.
Last year, Inuit women from Quebec were asked to come forward with their stories of enduring forced sterilization while giving birth at area hospitals.
The request came as part of an effort by, among others, Indigenous researchers, health care providers and women’s groups to include the Inuit women in a class action lawsuit alleging governments in Canada routinely subject Black and Indigenous women to forced sterilization.
The group in Quebec, which includes Inuit and First Nation women, were, at the time, still considering joining the existing class action lawsuit or potentially starting their own, Radio-Canada reported.
In 2020, meanwhile, the Canadian federal government was among those targeted by a class action lawsuit alleging at least 50 former Inuit children were sexually abused by a former teacher in the Nunavut and Northwest Territories.
Former students claimed Canada, along with the territories of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, were responsible by, among other things, having placed the former teacher, Maurice Cloughley, in a position of authority and power.
Have you been affected by poor child welfare services? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiffs are represented by Alexandre Brosseau-Wery, William Colish and Mélissa Des Groseilliers of Kugler Kandestin LLP; Louis-Nicholas Coupal and Victor Chauvelot of Coupal Chauvelot; and David Sterns, Mohsen Seddigh, and Michelle Logasov of Sotos LLP.
The Quebec, Canada, Inuit Nunavik Youth Underfunding Class Action Lawsuit is Tookalook, et al. v. Attorney General of Quebec, et al., Case No. 500-06-001177-225, in the Superior Court of Québec.
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