Alberta sued for discriminating against children in care by taking their child allowance benefits – The Globe and Mail

Treaty 8 chiefs and representative plaintiffs are leading the charge for Indigenous children living off-reserve and in care of the province who were denied their Children’s Special Allowance (CSA) benefit.

A statement of claim was filed against Alberta and Canada Nov. 24 in Court of King’s Bench in Edmonton alleging Alberta withheld hundreds of millions of dollars from foster children since about 1993 and the federal government did nothing about it.

“Today is a day of accountability for the government,” said Chief Albert Thunder of Whitefish First Lake Nation 459 at a news conference Nov. 27. He was joined by Treaty 8 Grand Chief Arthur Noskey, chiefs Ivan Sawan (Loon River) and Andy Alook (Bigstone Cree), as well as the representative plaintiffs and legal counsel.

“This class action is about thousands of children that will benefit as a result of our Treaty 8 youth… having the courage, with our support as chiefs, to take the challenge on,” said Thunder.

Read More: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-alberta-sued-for-discriminating-against-children-in-care-by-taking/