INDIGENOUS CLASS PROCEEDINGS IN CANADA. AN EXAMINATION OF THE CONVERGENCE OF INDIGENOUS RIGHTS AND CLASS ACTIONS IN THE CANADIAN COMMON LAW SYSTEM

Abstract

The foundations of contemporary Indigenous relations in Canada have been laid by class action lawyers who foresaw the potential for correcting, acknowledging and addressing historical wrongs. Decades of persistence by Indigenous leaders and collateral work by lawyers compelled the Canadian government, the Canadian public and its major religious and charitable institutions to face their pasts. Class and mass action lawsuits are indispensable to lawyers seeking to advance claims that recognize the systemic oppression of Indigenous people beyond individual harms. Respected class action lawyer Steven L. Cooper, KC, outlines more than 250 years of this legal history that has defined the unique status of Indigenous Canadians, from recognizing royal proclamations as they relate to land claims to settlements that have seen hundreds of thousands of Indigenous people compensated for harms inflicted in residential schools and hospitals.