Manitoba apologizes for clawing back money for kids in care as part of $530M settlement

The Manitoba government has apologized in the legislature for clawing back federal benefit payments to kids in the child welfare system.

The apology is part of a settlement of a class-action lawsuit, approved by a judge last month, that will see the province pay out $530 million.

The agreement will compensate roughly 30,000 children who spent time in child welfare, some of whom have since become adults, for money the province took between 2005 and 2019.

The province clawed back a monthly federal benefit called the children's special allowance. It goes to agencies that care for children and mirrors the monthly Canada Child Benefit cheques given to parents raising children across the country.

Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine says the province is sorry for having withheld the money.

"This was not just a financial mistake. It was a profound injustice leaving some of our most vulnerable children without the supports they needed and rightfully deserved," Fontaine said Tuesday.

"These funds should have nourished your dreams [and]helped you learn, grow and flourish."

WATCH | Families minister says practice was 'profound injustice':

Manitoba apologizes to kids in child welfare system

7 days ago

Duration 4:18

Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine says the province's practice of keeping the children's special allowance, a federal benefit for kids in the child welfare system, for more than a decade was a 'profound injustice' that left some of the most vulnerable children in the province without the 'supports they needed and rightfully deserved.'

The dispute dates back to 2005, when the NDP government of the day started the clawback and said it was warranted.

In 2019, the Progressive Conservative government stopped the practice but also tried to ban any lawsuits over the clawback in a bill that was later struck down.

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.

More than 80 per cent of kids in child welfare in Manitoba are Indigenous.

The province and lawyers for the lead plaintiffs later negotiated. They reached the settlement in March, several months after the NDP was back in office.

Kris Saxberg, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, has said claim forms are to start being processed in January.

'Grievous harm' can't be erased: SCO

The province's formal apology is a "critical stepin addressing the long-standing harm," said a statement from the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs' First Nations family advocate office.

But meaningful reforms should followto prevent similar injusticesin the future, the statement said, including"ongoing efforts to restructure the child welfare system in a way that eliminates discriminatory practices and prioritizes the rights of First Nations children, families and nations."

Betsy Kennedy, the acting grand chief of the assembly, said in the statement that while the class-action settlementwill bring"long-overdue financial compensation," broader systemic issues are at play.

"Ourchildren have been taken from their families and nations at disproportionate rates, and this exploitation of their financial rights is symptomatic of a system that has failed them for generations,"Kennedy said.

The Southern Chiefs' Organization commended the government for apologizing butsaid the "grievous harm" inflicted on the kids who went through the childwelfare system "cannot be erased."

"Wecan never know how their lives would be different now if they had what was rightfully theirs,"Grand Chief Jerry Daniels said in a statement.

"It is my hope this settlement and apology will set the stage for moving forward in good faith on the path to reconciliation."