The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed the federal government’s effort to appeal the certification of a class action lawsuit that alleges RCMP discrimination against Indigenous people in the North.
The suit was launched in 2018 against the Attorney General of Canada on behalf of Indigenous people who say they were subjected to excessive force by RCMP in the territories between 1928 and the present.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court dismissed the Attorney General of Canada’s request to appeal the certification of the class action lawsuit after that certification was upheld by the Federal Court of Appeal.
Certification means the process by which a judge examines a proposed lawsuit to check that it meets some basic legal grounds for a class action suit.
“This is a victory in the pursuit of justice, but it is merely the end of the beginning,” said Steven Cooper of Cooper Regel, one of the law firms behind the class action, in a statement.
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“Much work is left to be done. Class actions often trigger systemic reform,” Cooper wrote.
“Society demands reconciliation and reconciliation requires acknowledgement and validation of the complaints made.”
Cooper told Cabin Radio the Supreme Court’s decision means the northern case, as well as another class action alleging many of the same issues in the provinces, can now proceed.
“We still have to prove the case on merit but usually the incentive, once certification has been finalized, is for the parties to sit down and try to hammer out something,” he said.
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“Liability is really not the issue. It’s a function of how we resolve it.”
Cooper pointed out that both the prime minister and RCMP commissioners have acknowledged systemic racism in the national police force. The RCMP has said it is working to make changes, including collecting and analyzing race-based data, modernizing recruitment to support diversity and reduce bias, and working on an equity, diversity and inclusion strategy.
In attempting to appeal certification of the class action, the federal government argued that the allegations outlined in the suit should be dealt with individually, rather than as a class action.
The suit alleges that Inuit, Métis and First Nations people are regularly assaulted by RCMP officers in Yukon, NWT and Nunavut because they are Indigenous. The suit claims Canada has been systemically negligent and, in its oversight and support of the RCMP, breached its fiduciary duty to Indigenous people in the North and violated their charter rights.
The lead plaintiff in the case is Joe David Nasogaluak, who is from Tuktoyaktuk. He alleges that in November 2017, when he was 15 years old, RCMP pushed him to the ground without provocation and assaulted him while using racial slurs.
