Class-action alleges abuse at Canadian Indigenous group homes [Video]

A proposed class-action lawsuit against the Canadian government says Indigenous people removed from their communities and placed in group homes beginning in the 1950s suffered physical, sexual and psychological abuse that “was commonplace, condoned and, arguably, encouraged.”

The Federal Court lawsuit filed this month in Vancouver says Indigenous children across the country were forcibly removed from their homes and taken “to live with strangers — sometimes hundreds of kilometres from their families and Indigenous communities.”

Lawyer Doug Lennox said the lawsuit seeks compensation for those harmed by the country’s historic policy of assimilation.

“There have been a variety of forms in which this policy has been implemented,” he said. “Most notably with residential schools, but in other areas as well, such as day schools, such as the 60s scoop, such as boarding homes.”

From the 1950s until the 1990s, the Canadian government forced many Indigenous, Inuit and Métis children into …