A lawyer representing plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against the RCMP for excessive force expects hundreds of Inuit to join the claim now that it’s been certified, according to Nunatsiaq News.

The lawsuit alleges that Indigenous people are frequently arrested, detained and abused by RCMP officers in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon on the basis of their race.

It also alleges the federal government has been “systemically negligent” in its funding, oversight and operation of its RCMP detachments and its officers

In her Wednesday decision, federal court Justice Glennys McVeigh said she disagreed with the government’s argument that plaintiffs’ claims of police brutality were individual.

The original plaintiff, Joe David Nasogaluak, is Inuvialuit from Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories.