Provincial Aboriginal Day Schools

This class action seeks compensation for persons subject to the Indian Act and Inuit who, between 1951 and 2014, attended a ‘provincial Indigenous day school’ located in an Indigenous community (reserve or Indian settlement) or an Inuit village, as well as their family members, for the loss of their language and culture and for the psychological, physical and sexual abuse committed there. It also seeks punitive damages.

The defendants named in the class action are the Government of Canada, the Government of Québec and seven (7) school boards (Centres de services scolaires).

For the purposes of the class action, a ‘provincial Indigenous day school’ means a school administered by the Government of Québec or a Québec school board and attended by Indigenous students (members of a First Nation or Inuit).

This class action is being brought in parallel with the class action Twenish v. Attorney General of Canada et al., which also concerns the policy whereby Indigenous children were integrated into the Québec school system. For more information on this other class action, please visit its web page.

Latest developments

In December 2023, the Superior Court authorised the plaintiffs (James Jonah and Adrienne Jérôme) to proceed with the class action – the Court’s decision is available here. This is the first step in the legal process, and no compensation has been obtained for class members yet.

Since the authorisation ruling, the parties have been completing numerous steps to prepare the class action for trial, which will determine whether the defendants must compensate class members.

Are you a class member?

You are a class member if you fit into one of the following groups:

Survivor Class – reserves or Indian establishments

• You are a person subject to the Indian Act, and
• You attended a provincial Indigenous day school (either public or religious) in Québec, and
• You attended this school between the years 1951 and 2014, and
• This school was located in an Indigenous community (reserve or Indian establishment), and
• The minister of Indigenous Affairs (representing the government of Canada) could force you to attend this school or claimed that they could force you to attend this school.

* This class excludes schools administered exclusively by a band council, as defined in the Indian Act.

OR

Survivor Class – Inuit villages

• You attended a provincial Indigenous day school (either public or religious) in Québec, and
• You attended this school between the years 1963 and 1978, and
• This school was located in an Inuit village, and
• The minister of Education of Québec could force you to attend this school, or claimed that they could force you to attend this school.

OR

Family Class

You are a family member* of a person included in one of the Survivor Classes

*Family Members: Any spouse or civil union partner, any sibling and any child or grandchild, as well as any spouse or civil union partner of any sibling, child or grandchild of a person in the Survivor Groups.

TJL represents the members of the class action in collaboration with the firm Dionne Schulze.

* The class action excludes all claims relating to sexual assault by any clergy member, member or employee of the religious congregation known as Les Missionnaires Oblats de Marie Immaculée, committed outside the activities of a provincial Indigenous day school.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Phone: 514 871-8385

Email: [email protected]

About the case

Title: Jonah and Jérôme v. Attorney General of Canada et al.

File number: 500-06-000999-199 (Superior Court of Quebec)