LAKELAND – A $50-million class-action lawsuit was certified in St. Paul on Jan. 21.
Initially filed by Cynthia Iris Youngchief in 2019, the lawsuit alleges Indigenous students who attended École Notre Dame in Bonnyville after the Indian Day School on Kehewin Cree Nation was shut down in 1964 were subjected to physical, psychological, and sexual abuse.
The suit names Lakeland Catholic Separate School Division, the Diocese of St. Paul, the Government of Canada and the Government of Alberta as defendants.
In his decision certifying the lawsuit, Justice James T. Neilson approved only three of the four.
“I find that the claim does not disclose a cause of action against Alberta in negligence. The plaintiff’s alleged breaches of duty may apply to the School District and its predecessors, but not to Alberta,” wrote Neilson.
The survivor class includes all Indigenous people who attended École Notre Dame in Bonnyville between Sept. 1, 1966 and June 28, 1974.
More to come...
