Ottawa appeals certification of class action lawsuit alleging RCMP excessive use of force in North
Lawsuit alleges northern RCMP committed racial assaults against Indigenous people in their care
The federal government is appealing a judge's decision to certify a $600 million class action lawsuit against the attorney general for alleged excessive use of force by RCMP against northern Indigenous people.
The lawsuit was launched in federal court in December 2018 by lead plaintiff Joe Nasogaluak. He claims he was assaulted and subjected to racial slurs after he was arrested in Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., when he was 15 years old.
The class-action is seeking $500 million in damages and $100 million in punitive damages from the federal government.
It claims Ottawa was "systemically negligent in the funding, oversight, operation, supervision, control and support of its RCMP detachments, and RCMP members who committed assaults against the plaintiff and class members in the course of their duties in the Territories."
Justice Glennys McVeigh gave the class certification in June 2021, allowing it to go ahead as a class action lawsuit in federal court.
The federal government is now appealing that certification.
In court documents, it says McVeigh "erred in certifying a series of highly individual, free-standing assault and battery allegations as a class proceeding."
Ottawa is asking the Federal Court of Appeal to withdraw the lawsuit's class-action certification.
"Canada is committed to reconciliation and a renewed relationship with Indigenous peoples based upon recognition of rights, respect, co-operation and partnership.... Canada is committed to continuously improving policing and to holding individual members accountable for wrongful actions," the federal government said in court documents.
"A class action is not a commission of inquiry. Neither is it an appropriate forum for examining individual instances of such alleged wrongdoing.... Accordingly, this is not a proceeding that is viable or suitable for certification."