Our Children Our Way Society welcomes Federal Court decision

The Our Children Our Way Society welcomes the Federal Court decision to approve the Final Settlement Agreement on Compensation for First Nations children and families. This compensation provides a small but meaningful reparation to the children and families who have suffered harm within a discriminatory system.

“There can be no true justice for the children who lost their families, their childhoods, their cultural identities, their connections to their ancestral territories and their lives, but this compensation acknowledges their pain,” says Mary Teegee, Chair of the Our Children Our Way Society.

We raise our hands to all those who have worked tirelessly in the fight to compensate, including the representative plaintiffs in the class actions, the representatives from the Assembly of First Nations, and the Caring Society.

As we move forward on this journey of reconciling past and ongoing harms, we must wrap support around our children, youth, young adults, and families— this will be especially critical when compensation begins to roll out.  We know from past settlement experiences that supports, including mental wellness and financial well-being supports, must be accessible to young people and caregivers as they navigate this process. The OCOW Society is committed to working with our partners to ensure that these culturally grounded supports are in place.

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For further comment, please contact:

Mary Teegee, Chair

Our Children Our Way Society

Phone: 250-612-8710