Canada – Federal Court of Canada approved the Gottfriedson settlement agreement for former Day Scholars at Indian Residential Schools

The Minister of Crown–Indigenous Relations, Carolyn Bennett, issued the following statement today.

Ottawa, Ontario (October 1, 2021) — The Minister of Crown–Indigenous Relations, Carolyn Bennett, issued the following statement today:

“The mistreatment of Indigenous children is a tragic and shameful part of Canada’s history, the impacts of which are still being felt today. The Government of Canada is deeply committed to advancing reconciliation and healing for former Indian Residential School Day Scholars and their descendants.

On Friday, September 24, 2021, the Federal Court approved the Indian Residential Schools Day Scholars (Gottfriedson) Settlement Agreement. The Court ruled that the agreement is fair, reasonable and in the best interests of the Survivor and Descendant class members.

Canada is pleased with this important step forward on the journey of reconciliation and healing with Indigenous Peoples. We are proud of the work we have accomplished together with Survivors and their counsel toward a lasting and meaningful resolution for the thousands of Day Scholars who suffered harm while attending an Indian Residential School.

The settlement agreement combines individual compensation of $10,000 for harms experienced in attending an Indian Residential School as a Day Scholar with forward-looking investments to support healing, wellness, education, language, culture, heritage and commemoration for Survivors and Descendants.

To ensure that the aging survivors receive compensation in their lifetime, the parties have agreed to separate the Band Class claims in order to focus on the settlement of the Survivor and Descendant classes.

The parties to the settlement will continue to work collaboratively toward implementing the settlement following the 60-day appeal period.

As the process going forward can have a re-traumatizing effect, Canada has health supports in place for Survivors and their families. The Hope for Wellness Help Line offers immediate access to experienced and culturally competent Help Line counsellors to all Indigenous Peoples across Canada. Counsellors can help those who want to talk, who are in distress, who are having a strong emotional reaction or who are triggered by painful memories. The Hope for Wellness Help Line offers counselling and crisis intervention and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling 1-855-242-3310 or by connecting to the online chat at hopeforwellness.ca.

The advocacy, perseverance and commitment of former Indian Residential Schools Day Scholars to address past wrongs will not be forgotten.”

Ani Dergalstanian

Press Secretary and Communications Advisor

Office of the Honourable Carolyn Bennett

Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations

819-997-0002

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All High Court websites now have captchas accessible to physically disabled people

The task of making the digital infrastructure of the Indian judicial system more accessible to persons with disabilities has been a core component of the work of the e-Committee, Supreme Court of India, in the last few months. A significant milestone that the e-Committee’s efforts towards this objective have yielded has been to ensure that all High Court websites now have captchas which are accessible to Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).

https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/userfiles/image/image0011H29.jpg

These captchas serve as entry points to access several essential facets of a court website, such as judgments/orders, cause-lists and checking the status of cases. Many High Court websites were hitherto exclusively using visual captchas inaccessible to the visually challenged, making it impossible for them to access such content independently. In coordination with all High Courts, the e-Committee has now ensured that visual captchas are accompanied by text/ audio captchas making the website content accessible to the visually challenged.

In a letter dated 16th December 2020, the  Chairperson of the e-Committee, Dr Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, exhorted all High Courts to make their digital infrastructure accessible to persons with disabilities in conformity with the constitutional and statutory entitlements of the disabled. The letter contained a series of structural interventions for all High Courts to undertake in this regard.

Pursuant to this letter, the e-Committee formulated an action plan to ensure the accessibility of the digital interface of all High Courts’ websites in Phase 1 of this project. Six parameters were devised to determine if the website of a given High Court was accessible. These were: Access to judgments; Access to cause-lists; Access to case status; Contrast/ colour theme; text size [A+AA]; and screen reader access.

The e-Committee conducted a series of sessions for the Central Project Coordinators of all High Courts and their technical teams to create awareness and impart training on ensuring accessibility of the digital interface of all High Courts’ websites and generating accessible PDFs. The websites of the High Courts now comply with the above parameters except for a few websites which are in the process of providing screen reader access. The status of the compliance of the High Courts with these parameters- Annexure A.

The e-Committee is also in the process of creating a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for generating accessible court documents and will serve as a user guide to its stakeholders. This will also address the issues of watermarks, entering content by hand, improper placement of stamps and inaccessible pagination of files. In this regard, the Chairperson of the e-Committee, Dr Justice D Y Chandrachud, has addressed a letter dated 25.06.2021 to the Chief Justices of all the High Courts for their input and suggestions on creating the said SOP.

Another significant initiative undertaken by the e-Committee in collaboration with NIC is creating a judgment search portal ( https://judgments.ecourts.gov.in  ) accessible to persons with disabilities.  The portal contains judgements and final orders passed by all High Courts. The portal uses a free text search engine. In addition, the portal provides the facility of using an audio captcha, along with a text captcha. It also uses accessible combo boxes, making it easier for the visually disabled to navigate the website.

The website of the e-Committee (https://ecommitteesci.gov.in/) and the e-Courts website (https://ecourts.gov.in/ecourts_home/) are also accessible to persons with disabilities. The eCommittee webpage is created on the S3WAAS platform, which complies with the standards for making websites accessible for the disabled.

The e-Committee’s training programmes for Lawyers also sensitise Advocates to adopt accessible filing practices.

These measures, cumulatively viewed, have significantly furthered access to justice for the disabled and served as a powerful affirmation of their dignity allowing them to participate in our justice system on equal terms. For legal professionals with disabilities, these measures have been a significant step in enabling them to participate in the profession on the same footing as their able-bodied counterparts. These initiatives of the e-Committee have helped transform our courts from sites of exclusion to bastions of inclusion for the disabled, and it is a way forward in creating an accessible and inclusive legal system.

Annexure A

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MONIKA

(Release ID: 1730627)
Visitor Counter : 684




Hong Kong – Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal and Chief Judge of the High Court to attend celebration activities of 100th anniversary of founding of Communist Party of China in Beijing

Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal and Chief Judge of the High Court to attend celebration activities of 100th anniversary of founding of Communist Party of China in Beijing

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The following is issued on behalf of the Judiciary:

     ​The Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal, Mr Andrew Cheung Kui-nung, and the Chief Judge of the High Court, Mr Justice Jeremy Poon Shiu-chor, have accepted the invitation to visit Beijing tomorrow (June 28) to attend the celebration activities of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.  

     They will return to Hong Kong on July 1. During their absence, Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal, Mr Justice Roberto Alexandre Vieira Ribeiro, and Vice-President of the Court of Appeal of the High Court, Mr Justice Wally Yeung Chun-kuen, will be the Acting Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal and the Acting Chief Judge of the High Court respectively.

Canada – Supreme court of Canada nominee to participate in question-and-answer session

Justice Mahmud Jamal will take part in a virtual question-and-answer session with members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, members of the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs and a representative of the Green Party of Canada. The session will be moderated by Marie-Eve Sylvestre, Dean of the Civil Law section at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law.

Date: Tuesday, June 22

Location: Virtual – media are invited to watch the session at the link below:

https://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/Harmony

Time: 3:30 p.m. (local time)

Canada – Supreme Court of Canada rules on the constitutionality of the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act

What was the case about
In June 2018, the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act became law, ensuring that it is no longer free to pollute anywhere in Canada. A price on carbon pollution provides an incentive for climate action and innovation, and in jurisdictions where the federal backstop applies, it puts more money in the pockets of the majority of families. It is a proven, efficient, and cost-effective way of reducing emissions.

Greenhouse gas emissions are a matter of national concern because carbon pollution knows no borders. The provinces of Saskatchewan, Ontario and Alberta each challenged the Act on the basis that it is outside federal jurisdiction. The courts of appeal in both Saskatchewan and Ontario upheld the Act, recognizing the federal role in ensuring all provinces and territories work together to fight climate change. The Court of Appeal of Alberta ruled that the Act is unconstitutional.

Saskatchewan and Ontario appealed these decisions to the Supreme Court of Canada. At the same time, the province of British Columbia challenged the finding by the Court of Appeal of Alberta that the Act is not constitutional. The Supreme Court heard these appeals on September 22-23, 2020.

In court, a diverse group of organizations, including doctors, economists, cities, labour, Indigenous groups, the province of British Columbia and young people supported Canada’s case.

On March 25, 2021, the Supreme Court of Canada found that carbon pollution knows no boundaries and that Parliament has the authority to address it by applying a price on carbon pollution in jurisdictions that do not have their own system that meets minimum national stringency standards.

What does the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act do
The Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act fulfills Canada’s commitment to ensure there is a pricing mechanism on greenhouse gas emissions across the country. It implements a federal carbon pollution pricing system that applies as a backstop in those provinces and territories that do not have a carbon pricing system of their own or that have a system that does not meet the federal benchmark.

The federal carbon pollution pricing system has two parts: a charge on fossil fuels like gasoline and natural gas – the fuel charge; and a regulatory trading system for industry – the Output-Based Pricing System.

How does Canada’s carbon pollution pricing system work
If it is free to pollute, there will be more pollution. Our plan is simple – it puts a price on the carbon pollution causing climate change and returns all direct proceeds from pricing carbon pollution under the federal system to the jurisdiction in which they were collected. In Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Alberta, the Government of Canada is returning the majority of proceeds directly to households through Climate Action Incentive payments.

When they claim their Climate Action Incentive payment through their tax return this year, a family of four will receive $600 in Ontario, $720 in Manitoba, $1,000 in Saskatchewan and $981 in Alberta. The majority of families in these provinces will get more money back with low-income families benefitting the most.

The remaining proceeds are used to provide support to key sectors, including small- and medium-sized businesses, municipalities, universities, schools, colleges, hospitals, and not-for-profit organizations, as well as Indigenous communities.

When the Government of Canada introduced a price on carbon pollution across Canada, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta already had carbon pricing systems. Since then many of the other provinces and territories have introduced their own pollution pricing systems.

Currently five provinces and territories have their own carbon pollution pricing systems. The federal backstop applies in full in four provinces and territories, and the remaining have a mixture of federal and provincial systems.

Canada’s successful carbon pollution pricing approach is an example of how Canada can meet its economic needs and its environmental goals at the same time.

What are the next steps
Currently the Government is reviewing the standards it uses to assess provincial systems, also known as the federal “benchmark criteria” and is consulting with provinces and territories in order to strengthen that benchmark. Strengthening these standards will help Canada meet and exceed its climate goals while allowing provinces and territories to choose the pricing systems that work best for them.

The Supreme Court’s decision means that the Government can continue to proceed with this work. The decision also means that the Government of Canada can continue to ensure that pollution isn’t free anywhere in the country and put more money in the pockets of the majority of families where the federal system applies.

Each jurisdiction has a label that indicates which system applies, as stated in the table below.

Jurisdiction/System that applies

Newfoundland and Labrador: Provincial carbon tax plus OBPS
Nova Scotia: Cap-and-Trade
Prince Edward Island:Provincial fuel charge, Federal OBPS
New Brunswick: Provincial fuel charge, as of April 1, 2020. Federal OBPS transitioning to provincial OBPS at a time to be determined.
Quebec: Cap-and-trade
Ontario: Federal fuel charge and federal OBPS transitioning to provincial OBPS at a time to be determined.
Manitoba: Federal backstop
Saskatchewan: Federal fuel charge. Provincial OBPS on some sectors, federal OBPS on others.
Alberta: Federal fuel charge. Alberta TIER (Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction) regulation for industry.
British Columbia: Provincial carbon tax
Yukon: Federal backstop
Northwest Territories: Territorial carbon tax
Nunavut: Federal backstop

Additional Links

Climate Action Incentive Payment Amounts for 2021
A Healthy Environment And A Healthy Economy