Case information

Civil procedure — Class actions — Certification — Common questions — Preferable procedure — Whether proposed national class action alleging harm arising from Canada’s actions and omissions in respect of a program for which it has delegated responsibility or for which it shares responsibility with the provinces/territories may be pursued in Federal Court, rather than by bringing 13 separate claims in 13 different jurisdictions against both Canada and each respective provincial or territorial Crown — Scope of test for, and court’s role in assessing, preferability on motion for certification of class action — Whether it is open to Canada, which has accepted responsibility in relation to on-reserve Indigenous children, youth and family survivors of the child welfare system, to abjure responsibility in relation to off-reserve First Nation, non-status, Métis and Inuit children, particularly as it relates to the protection of their culture, traditions, customs, and languages and ensuring access to entitlements and rights as Indigenous people — Federal Courts Rules, SOR/98-106, r. 334.16

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Applicants Cheyenne Pamamukos Stonechild, Lori-Lynn David and Steven Hicks (collectively, the “plaintiffs”) are the proposed representative plaintiffs in a proposed class proceeding against the respondent, His Majesty the King (hereafter, “Canada”).

The proposed class action challenges Canada’s role, between 1992 and 2019, in allowing Indigenous children who were taken into state care to be placed in non-Indigenous homes and in the care of individuals who were not part of their Indigenous group, community or people. The claim alleges that this resulted in loss of identity, culture, family, and federal benefits.

The plaintiffs brought a motion to have the action certified as a class proceeding pursuant to Rule 334.16 of the Federal Courts Rules, SOR/98-106. The Federal Court certified the class proceeding. A majority of the Federal Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and dismissed the motion for certification.