MANITOBA COURT APPROVES HISTORIC CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT FOR CHILDREN IN THE CARE OF MÉTIS CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES AGENCIES
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On March 24, 2024, the Government of Manitoba announced that it had agreed to pay $530 million to settle three class actions relating to a Manitoba government policy in place between January 1, 2005 and March 31, 2019 regarding a federal benefit called the Children’s Special Allowance (“CSA Benefit”).
CSA Benefits are paid to child and family services agencies and are intended to be an equivalent to the Canada Child Benefit. They are required to be used exclusively for the care and maintenance of the specific child for whom the benefit is paid. However, during the class period, Manitoba forced child and family service agencies to remit the CSA Benefit to the province, which denied children in care hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits and supports.
On September 5, 2024, the Court of King’s Bench approved this historic settlement. $84,800,000 was paid to settle the class action on behalf of children who were in the care of the Métis child and family service agencies. Rahool Agarwal, Michael Currie, and Amethyst Haighton acted as counsel for the class, together with Murray Trachtenberg and Genevieve Benoit. The Court’s reasons for the settlement approval motion are here.
The settlement is an incredible achievement for children in the care of the Métis Agencies. The settlement provides total compensation of almost 100% more than principal amount of the CSA Benefits remitted to Manitoba.