The Canadian government yesterday announced that it is setting aside $40 billion in its fall economic update for First Nations child welfare as it continues talks on settling compensation claims, according to CBC Canada.

The money is to cover the cost of settling a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal order, two class action lawsuits and long-term reform of the Indigenous child welfare system over a five year period.

In 2019, the tribunal ordered Ottawa to pay $40,000 — the maximum allowed under the Canadian Human Rights Act — to each child, along with their primary guardian, who attended on-reserve child welfare system from at least Jan. 1, 2006, to a date to be determined by the tribunal.

It also directed the federal government to pay $40,000 to each First Nations child, along with their primary guardian, who was denied services or forced to leave home to access services covered by the policy known as Jordan's Principle.

"This is 30 years of the cost of failure, and that cost is high", Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller told reporters at Parliament Hill.