Can 5 weeks of talks settle a 14-year battle over child welfare? Here’s what has to happen – APTN News
Nov 02, 2021
Despite pledging “to sit down immediately and work towards reaching a global resolution,” talks about ending First Nations child welfare litigation have already been underway for 14 months, Federal Court filings show.
A year ago, lawyers for the plaintiffs filed documents asking the court to appoint retired judge Leonard Mandamin as a mediator to help settle the 14-year-old Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) complaint, related appeals and a national class-action lawsuit against the federal government.
Mandamin, who is Anishinaabe from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, has been mediating since early September 2020 “with a view to exploring a global resolution of a significant portion of the proposed class action and the CHRT matter,” counsel explained in the Nov. 2, 2020 filings.
After the court granted the request on May 31, 2021, the talks proceeded quietly behind closed doors, but failed to produce the desired results.
