Sixities Scoop Lawsuit Granted Certification

The Canadian Government will be held accountable for damages caused by the Residential School System.
That according to Nishnawbe-Aski Deputy Grand Chief Goyce Kakegamic, after a judge granted certification for the Sixties Scoop class action suit.
A lawyer for representative plaintiffs Marcia Brown Martel and Robert Commanda says the Ontario Superior Court of Justice certified the case after dismissing a Crown motion asking for the suit to be quashed.
Jeffery Wilson says it’s thought to be the first time a court has deemed the loss of cultural identity an issue worthy of a trial.
Wilson says thousands of aboriginal children were taken from
their homes and placed with non-native families from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Martel and Commanda both say being part of the 60’s scoop has left them feeling like they don’t belong in aboriginal or mainstream society.
The pair first asked for permission to put their case forward as a class action in February 2009, but the federal government successfully appealed certification of the proceedings. A new hearing was ordered in January this year.
Wilson says the Crown has argued that the claim for loss of
cultural identity isn’t known in law.
He says there are thought to be 16,000 surviving children of the 60’s scoop in Ontario alone.