Matthew Brandon with his adoptive parents, Shannon and Chris Gardiner.
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A Saskatchewan family launches a class-action lawsuit against the federal government seeking damages for the intergenerational trauma caused by residential schools on Indigenous children, including their adopted son.
< p class="StyledBodyHtmlParagraph-sc-48221190-4 hnvfyV">The latter, Matthew Brandon, was 6 years old when he entered the lives of Chris and Shannon Gardiner. The child had complex needs: he did not speak and had been repeatedly moved through the foster care system.
According to Mr. Gardiner, Matthew Brandon has an intellectual disability, cerebral palsy and other medical conditions, which render him incapacitated to provide for one's own needs.
The Gardiner family notes that they were not informed of Matthew Brandon's condition upon his arrival.
My wife and I had no training in this area. We weren't even approved foster parents, recalls Chris Gardiner, who still cares for Matthew Brandon.
The tragic fate of the victims of residential schools for Aboriginal people
Consult the complete file
Le tragic fate of victims of residential schools for Aboriginal people
Consult the complete file
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We raised an autistic child. […] We attended countless meetings about autism, before discovering, in 2012, after psychologists took a look at the social services file , that he had in fact suffered a brain injury, he adds.
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Matthew Brandon, 32 years old, suffers from intellectual disability, cerebral palsy and other medical conditions. Here it is on March 12, 2024.
Between the 1870s and the end of the 1990s, more than 150,000 children First Nations, Métis and Inuit were forced to attend church-run and federally funded residential schools.
In the class action application submitted on February 28, the Gardiner family alleges that the abuse suffered by Matthew Brandon's biological parents during their time at the Aboriginal residential school directly influenced the way they raised their children.
According to documents filed by the law firm Merchant Law Group, Matthew Brandon's father, now deceased, was allegedly subjected to acts of violent discipline during his stay at the boarding school, which he then allegedly reproduced on Matthew, which resulted in serious injury to the child and serious injuries. permanent after-effects.
Everyone in the Indigenous community, especially leaders, has spoken about and is aware of the intergenerational impact of residential schools, notes lawyer Tony Merchant.
He recalls that a class action brought by survivors of residential schools for Aboriginal people was resolved and that they were compensated within the framework of a 2006 agreement, entitled Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.
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Chris and Shannon Gardiner state that they were not informed of Matthew Brandon's condition when they adopted him.
The next step in the proposed class action is its certification. Mr. Merchant specifies that his law firm collects individual testimonies from people affected by intergenerational trauma.
Chris Gardiner is convinced that the intergenerational trauma caused by residential schools for Aboriginal people is the main source of Matthew Brandon's suffering. Through this class action lawsuit, he also hopes to raise awareness about this topic.
This n' It is not just an evil that has affected a small group of people, deplores Chris Gardiner. It is, in fact, an intergenerational trauma that has caused calamity and damage to generations of Indigenous people in this country.
The Department of Justice Canada had not responded to CBC's request for an interview at the time of publication of this article.
Teilor Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining Thesaxon , Teilor Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my teilor@nizhtimes.com 1-800-268-7116
