The Manitoba government has agreed to pay $530 million to settle three class-action lawsuits over child welfare benefit payments in an agreement that plaintiffs say should send a message to other provinces.
Lawyers representing more than a dozen CFS agencies are accusing the province of discrimination, saying Indigenous children paid the price when the province clawed back hundreds of millions of dollars meant for children in care.
A civil trial at Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench focuses on whether the province of Manitoba was right to force child welfare agencies to remit federal funding earmarked for Indigenous children in care to the provincial government.