Non-Status & Métis Sixties Scoop decision of Federal Court
Akwesasne, Ontario, May 9, 2025
Wayne Garnons-Williams, CEO, NSSHFC
In a decision Varley v. Canada (T-2166-18; 2025 FC 753) from the Federal Court of Canada dated April 29, 2025, Mr. Justice Grammond found that Canada owed a duty of care to Non-Status and Métis children who were scooped in Saskatchewan under the “Adopt Indian Métis”(AIM) program a Saskatchewan-based adoption initiative for Indigenous children which was funded by the government of Canada.
The Federal Court ruled that only those who were placed or adopted through Saskatchewan's AIM program fall under Canada's duty of care extends only to those placed or adopted through Saskatchewan’s AIM Program, this is because that program received federal funding.
In the reasons for decision Justice Grammond wrote in part:
"This is because the federal government directly funded AIM, which, in the context of the historical relationship, creates the proximity necessary to establish a duty of care."
...
"The harm was foreseeable and there are no countervailing policy considerations negating such a duty."
Mr. Justice Sébastien Grammond of the Federal Court of Canada
Justice Grammond wrote that when the federal government funded that program, it would have known the outcome would be the permanent separation of Indigenous children from their families and communities.
He wrote in part:
"This was obvious from the grant application, and even from the name of the program itself, as adoption severs the relationship between a child and their biological parents,"
...
"What matters is that funding the program enabled the harm it allegedly caused to class members."
Métis and Non-status individuals who were apprehended as children from their families filed a class-action lawsuit arguing Canada should compensate them as well — but the Federal Court says Ottawa is not liable. The court dismissed the claims of all other Non-Status and Métis plaintiffs against the government of Canada because there was insufficient evidence that Canada was involved in operating or funding child services in those cases. These other claims were found to be purely provincial in nature.
Justice Grammond wrote that when the federal government funded that program, it would have known the outcome would be the permanent separation of Indigenous children from their families and communities.
He wrote in part:
"This was obvious from the grant application, and even from the name of the program itself, as adoption severs the relationship between a child and their biological parents,"
...
"What matters is that funding the program enabled the harm it allegedly caused to class members."
Métis and Non-status individuals who were apprehended as children from their families filed a class-action lawsuit arguing Canada should compensate them as well — but the Federal Court says Ottawa is not liable. The court dismissed the claims of all other Non-Status and Métis plaintiffs against the government of Canada because there was insufficient evidence that Canada was involved in operating or funding child services in those cases. These other claims were found to be purely provincial in nature.
Reference is made in the decision to the National Sixties Scoop Healing Foundation of Canada where Justice Grammond, makes comment of the creation and endowment of a Foundation, saying that although Non-Status and Métis were excluded from individual compensation they were included in the mandate of the Foundation “because the Foundation was for the benefit of all survivors”.
Since the Foundation’s establishment in late 2020 of a permanent board of directors, the Foundation has successfully managed to grant over 9.4 million dollars to 53 organizations across Canada from sea to sea to sea, in each region of Canada for Inuit, First Nation (status and non-status), and Métis scoop Survivors to begin the work of healing Survivors through reclamation, reunion, and cultural practices reconnecting them to what has been lost. We are currently in the fifth year of our Grant program with a record number of grant applicants having worthwhile healing activities to fund.
For further reading on this case involving Non-Status and Métis 60’s Scoop Survivors see the hyperlink to the Reasons for Decision: Varley v Canada
Since the Foundation’s establishment in late 2020 of a permanent board of directors, the Foundation has successfully managed to grant over 9.4 million dollars to 53 organizations across Canada from sea to sea to sea, in each region of Canada for Inuit, First Nation (status and non-status), and Métis scoop Survivors to begin the work of healing Survivors through reclamation, reunion, and cultural practices reconnecting them to what has been lost. We are currently in the fifth year of our Grant program with a record number of grant applicants having worthwhile healing activities to fund.
For further reading on this case involving Non-Status and Métis 60’s Scoop Survivors see the hyperlink to the Reasons for Decision: Varley v Canada
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For more information about the Foundation visit our website: https://www.sixtiesscoophealingfoundation.ca/