NDP, Green Party call for new law to fix problems with Indigenous class action lawsuit settlements

Nunavut NDP MP Lori Idlout and Green Party Deputy Leader Jonathan Pedneault sent a letter to three federal ministers on Wednesday urging them to create an Indigenous Survivors Act.

The proposed legislation would allow First Nations, Métis and Inuit survivors mistreated by the federal government to apply for compensation and update their claims under the act after deadlines pass in their class action settlement agreements.

"The fact that the government of Canada mistreated Indigenous Peoples is one thing," Idlout and Pedneault wrote in a letter obtained by CBC News, adding that the "strict deadlines imposed for claims to be completed" is just another in a "long list of injustices."

Jonathan Pedneault, deputy leader of the Green Party of Canada, is urging the federal government to create an Indigenous Survivors Act.

The proposal follows a CBC News investigation that uncovered allegations that federal Indian day school survivors were shortchanged and retraumatized by the compensation process for a multi-billion dollar settlement agreement with Ottawa.

Now, they want the government to create a fund under the act with an undetermined but finite amount of money to pay individual compensation for outstanding and updated claims.