The Sechelt First Nation is praising a court ruling it says derails federal government attempts to stall a lawsuit by residential school survivors.
Sechelt has been working with the T’Kemlups First Nation to launch a class action suit to get compensation for day scholars, and their descendants. The day scholars didn’t live at the schools, but suffered the same abuses as others. They weren’t included in the wider settlement reached a few years ago.
The ruling keeps the case before the Federal Court, instead of shifting it to the BC Supreme Court.
Sechelt Chief Garry Feschuk says it was the last attempt by the government to get the jurisdiction changed, by having the churches that ran the schools included in the suit.
Feschuk says he’s confident they can now get a class action certified this year. T’Kemlups Chief Shane Gottfriedson calls it a “huge victory.”
