REGINA – Saskatchewan lawyer Tony Merchant said Manitoba’s apology to Indigenous people who were adopted into white families is a step towards compensation.
The Merchant Law Group is representing more than a thousand Indigenous people who were adopted in the so-called ’60s Scoop’. The children were sent to live with non-Indigenous families in both Canada and the United States.
“Very frequently, when the courts give approval through the certification process, that leads governments to try and settle and try to deal with the wrong,” said Merchant in an interview with Global News Friday morning.
Premier Greg Selinger said the apology, expected next week, will acknowledge the damage done to the cultural identity of those taken from their homes.
Merchant said his law firm is filing for certification as a class action in Manitoba on Monday followed by Saskatchewan within the coming days. A judge in Alberta is expected to be appointed to the case next week. Merchant wouldn’t say how much money he believes the victims deserve.
“The impact upon people’s lives is difficult to put into dollars and it usually depends on the kinds of wrongdoing to which they were subjected,” he said. “For most of them, it’s more of a recognition than money, but money is important too.”
Merchant hopes other provinces follow the lead of Manitoba.
“Each of the provinces, the federal government particularly, ought to come forward and say this was a wrongly planned program. It did a lot of damage to First Nations people.”
Communications staff for Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall are unsure if he will deliver a similar apology.