What was the Federal Indian Day Schools Settlement of 2019?

The Federal Indian Day Schools Settlement (McLean v. Canada) was a class-action settlement reached on August 19, 2019 between the federal government and former students of about 700 Federal Indian Day Schools across Canada. Federal Indian Day Schools were schools operated by the federal government on or near First Nations reserves for First Nations children who lived at home and attended the school day-only. About 200,000 First Nations children attended Federal Indian Day Schools between 1920 and 2000. The settlement provided graduated compensation from 10,000 to 200,000 dollars depending on harm experienced.

The federal Indian Day School system operated parallel to the residential school system but was administered by the federal government rather than by Catholic, Anglican, United, and Presbyterian churches. Day schools served First Nations communities where residential school enrolment was impractical or unwanted; many First Nations objected to the residential school system and requested day schools instead. By the 1960s the federal government was emphasising day schools over residential schools, and from the 1970s First Nations communities increasingly took over school operations under band-controlled education. About 90 per cent of Federal Indian Day Schools had been transferred to First Nations control by 2000.

The class action was filed in 2009 by Garry McLean (a Plains Cree from Manitoba). The action alleged that the federal Crown had operated the day schools with knowledge of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and cultural loss, similar to (though distinct from) the residential schools system. The Federal Court of Canada (Justice Michael Phelan) certified the class action in May 2018. Mediation in 2018 to 2019 produced the settlement agreement.

Settlement terms included: a Level 1 10,000 dollar payment to former students who attended a Federal Indian Day School (with no documentation needed beyond proof of attendance); a tiered Level 2 to Level 5 system providing additional compensation up to 200,000 dollars total for those who experienced documented physical, sexual, or other abuse; access to the Indian Residential Schools Health Support Program; and a 200 million dollar McLean Day Schools Healing and Wellness Fund for affected First Nations. The federal court approved the settlement on August 19, 2019. Garry McLean (the lead plaintiff) had died on March 15, 2019, before the approval; his class-action work produced one of the largest Indigenous class-action settlements in Canadian history. By 2024 about 175,000 registrations had been received and more than 6 billion dollars in compensation had been paid out, with the total settlement value reaching an estimated 2 to 3 billion dollars before the end of claims processing. Together with the IRSSA of 2007 and the Day Scholars Settlement of 2021, the Day Schools Settlement completed the compensation framework for the broader federal residential and day schools system.