People take part in the 2021 Etobicoke Lakeshore Santa Claus Parade in Toronto, Canada, on Dec. 11, 2021. As one of the largest community parades in Ontario, this annual event kicked off here on Saturday. (Photo: Xinhua)

Canada announced on Tuesday two agreements totaling C$40 billion ($31.5 billion) to compensate First Nations children who were taken from their families and put into the child welfare system and to reform the system that deprived them of services they needed.

The agreements include C$20 billion for potentially hundreds of thousands of First Nations children who were removed from their families, who did not get services or who experienced delays in receiving services. Another C$20 billion is to reform the system over the next five years.

The agreements come almost 15 years after the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society brought forward a human rights complaint.

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal repeatedly found child and family services discriminated against First Nations children, in part by under-funding services on reserves so children were removed from their homes and taken off-reserve to get those services.

Canada admitted its systems were discriminatory but repeatedly fought orders to pay compensation and fund reforms, including an appeal it filed in 2021. 

The country is also fighting a class-action lawsuit on behalf of First Nations children that the compensation agreement seeks to resolve.

Reuters