Lawyer wins case against multinational firm behind day school settlement

A First Nations lawyer, Joan Jack, has triumphed in a lawsuit against the law firm Gowling WLG over the settlement of day school survivor claims. Jack initiated the legal battle in 2009, before the case was transferred to the larger firm as a class-action. Gowling WLG, which assumed responsibility for the file in 2016, obtained a $1.5 billion settlement for day school survivors and paid $55 million in legal fees.

In a 46-page ruling, Manitoba Judge Shauna McCarthy found Gowling WLG in breach of their contractual and fiduciary duty to present the plaintiffs' fees to the Federal Court for approval. The firm was found to have asserted work done by the plaintiffs in advancing the day school claims without proper approval. Jack, who described the six-year legal battle as "hard," expressed her joy at the ruling, stating, "Every human being wants to be recognized for their contribution in life and for us as Indigenous people, so often our contributions are erased, changed, ignored."

Gowling WLG's managing partner, Lorraine Mastersmith, expressed concerns with elements of the judgment and is reviewing the decision to determine their next steps. The settlement agreement saw Canada compensate each eligible survivor between $10,000 and $200,000, totaling nearly $3 billion for nearly 200,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children who attended more than 700 Indian day schools between the 1920s and 1990s. Many of these children endured physical and sexual abuse at the federally-run schools.