Canada announces agreement to compensate Indigenous families.

(ANSA) - Canada has announced a 40 billion Canadian dollar agreement, equivalent to almost R$180 billion today, to reform its childcare system and compensate discriminated Indigenous families.

"No amount of money can compensate for the trauma that people have experienced, but this principled agreement acknowledges to survivors and their families the harm and pain caused by discrimination," said the country's Minister of Indigenous Services, Patty Hajdu.

Half of the amount, 20 billion Canadian dollars, will be used to compensate Indigenous families whose children were removed to state boarding schools. The other half will be allocated to reforming the social welfare system for children and families over the next five years.

The agreement is the result of lawsuits filed by First Nations families against discrimination in the funding of services for Indigenous peoples.

In the middle of last year, investigations uncovered approximately 1,3 unmarked graves in three former Catholic schools for Native children. These government-run boarding schools were managed by the Church to "educate" Indigenous people who were forcibly removed from their communities and forced to abandon their customs and language.

It is estimated that around 150 Indigenous people passed through these boarding schools up until the 1970s. The compensation paid to each family will be determined in agreement with the largest Indigenous organizations in Canada, such as the Assembly of First Nations.