The Labrador Innu launch a class action against the province and the federal government

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The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador

The Canadian Press

A class action lawsuit filed by the Innu Nation of Labrador seeks compensation for the mistreatment suffered by survivors of Indigenous day schools located in their community.

According to the documents of the lawsuit, filed against the federal and provincial governments, the students of these schools suffered physical, emotional and sexual abuse and lost their cultural identity.

Lawsuit covers abuse suffered in schools of Sheshatshiu, Natuashish and Davis Inlet between 1949, when the province joined Canada, and 2009, when the Innu nation formed its own school board.

The lawsuit was signed by lawyers on Thursday and filed in the province's Supreme Court.

The approach is similar to others launched elsewhere in the country, including a class action against Indigenous day schools settled in 2019.

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The Innu Nation was excluded from these agreements since it was not included in the Indian Act before the early 2000s.

With information from Janelle Kelly of CBC