Nunatsiavut Inuit - One Step Closer

You may be aware that the Inuit of Nunatsiavut (Labrador) were excluded from both the federal residential schools apology and the federal residential schools settlement agreement. This is a decision that was unfair to the Inuit of Nunatsiavut, and a decision that was challenged in the courts.

Just before Christmas the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal upheld a lower court ruling that approved the certification of a class action lawsuit involving former residential schools survivors in Labrador. The decision confirmed admissibility of claims against the Government of Canada respecting the operation of schools attended by Inuit (and Innu and Métis peoples) in Cartwright, Northwest River, St. Anthony, Nain, and Makkovik.

This is very good news for all Canadian Inuit.

As with the residential schools in other parts of Canada, and to quote the Prime Minister of Canada concerning them:

Two primary objectives of the Residential Schools system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture. These objectives were based on the assumption Aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal. Indeed, some sought, as it was infamously said, "to kill the Indian in the child"

The Nunatsiavut Inuit experience was no different.

The Prime Minister went on to say that under the residential schools system,

“…. very young children were often forcibly removed from their homes, often taken far from their communities. Many were inadequately fed, clothed and housed. All were deprived of the care and nurturing of their parents, grandparents and communities. First Nations, Inuit and Métis languages and cultural practices were prohibited in these schools. Tragically, some of these children died while attending residential schools and others never returned home.”

The Nunatsiavut Inuit experience was no different.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal decision allows some 4,000 Nunatsiavut Inuit to move forward with their class actions against the federal government, a decision that I, and all Canadian Inuit, applaud.

At this time I would urge the federal government to reverse its position of excluding Labrador Inuit, Innu, and Métis people from the residential schools healing process, to sit at the negotiating table with them, and to finally fully lay to rest this sad chapter in our collective Canadian history.

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