Did the Defendant have a fiduciary or common law duty of care to take reasonable steps to protect the Indigenous identity of the Class Members?
10)
The Settlement Agreement is fair, reasonable and in the best interests of the Plaintiffs and the Class Members.
11)
The Settlement Agreement, which is expressly incorporated by reference into this Order, shall be and hereby is approved and shall be implemented in accordance with this Order and further orders of this Court.
12)
The claims of the Class Members and the Class as a whole, shall be discontinued against the Defendant and are released against the Releasees in accordance with section 10.01 of the Settlement Agreement, in particular as follows:
(i)
Each Class Member and his/her Estate Executor and heirs (hereinafter “Releasors”
) has fully, finally and forever released Canada, her servants, agents, officers and employees, from any and all actions, causes of action, common law, Quebec civil law and statutory liabilities, contracts, claims and demands of every nature or kind available, asserted or which could have been asserted whether known or unknown including for damages, contribution, indemnity, costs, expenses and interest which any such Releasor ever had, now has, or may hereafter have, directly or indirectly arising from or in any way relating to or by way of any subrogated or assigned right or otherwise in relation to the Sixties Scoop and this release includes any such claim made or that could have been made in any proceeding including the Class Actions whether asserted directly by the Releasor or by any other person, group or legal entity on behalf of or as representative for the Releasor.
(ii)
This Agreement does not preclude claims against any third party that are restricted to whatever such third party may be directly liable for, and that do not include whatever such third party can be jointly liable for together with Canada, such that the third party has no basis to seek contribution, indemnity or relief over by way of equitable subrogation, declaratory relief or otherwise against Canada.
(iii)
For greater certainty, the Releasors are deemed to agree that if they make any claim or demand or take any actions or proceedings against another person or persons in which any claim could arise against Canada for damages or contribution or indemnity and/or other relief over under the provisions of the Negligence Act, RSO 1990, c N-3, or its counterpart in other jurisdictions, the common law, Quebec civil law or any other statute of Ontario or any other jurisdiction in relation to the Sixties Scoop, including any claim against provinces or territories or other entities for abuse while in care; then, the Releasors will expressly limit their claims to exclude any portion of Canada’s responsibility.
(iv)
Canada’s obligations and liabilities under this Agreement constitute the consideration for the releases and other matters referred to in this Agreement and such consideration is in full and final settlement and satisfaction of any and all claims referred to therein and the Releasors are limited to the benefits provided and compensation payable pursuant to this Agreement, in whole or in part, as their only recourse on account of any and all such actions, causes of actions, liabilities, claims and demands.
(i)
Class Members who opt out of any class action that is certified pursuant to this Settlement Agreement; or
(ii)
Individuals who are not Class Members.
(i)
$12,500,000.00 to Klein Lawyers LLP;
(ii)
$12,500,000.00 to Koskie Minsky LLP; and
(iii)
$12,500,000.00 to Merchant Law Group LLP.
13)
This Settlement Agreement does not compromise any claims that Class Members have against any Province, Territory or any other entity, other than as expressly stated herein.
14)
This Agreement does not affect the rights of:
15)
This Order, including the releases referred to in paragraph 12 above, and the Settlement Agreement are binding upon all Class Members, including those persons who are under a disability.
16)
The claims of the Class Members are dismissed against the Defendant, without costs and with prejudice and such dismissal shall be a defence to any subsequent action in respect of the subject matter hereof.
17)
This Court, without in any way affecting the finality of this Order, reserves exclusive and continuing jurisdiction over this action, the Plaintiffs, all of the Class Members, and the Defendant for the limited purposes of implementing the Settlement Agreement and enforcing and administering the Settlement Agreement and this Order.
18)
Save as set out above, leave is granted to discontinue this action against the Defendant without costs and with prejudice, and that such discontinuance shall be an absolute bar to any subsequent actions against the Defendant in respect of the subject matter hereof.
19)
Collectiva Class Action Services Inc. shall be and hereby is appointed as Claims Administrator pursuant to the Settlement Agreement. A complete, significant, and detailed review must take place in regard to the Administrator for all eventual work pertaining to the Administrator’s responsibilities, to ensure accurate and effective, wide dissemination of meaningful and pertinent information to the attention of all those who have gone through the “Sixties Scoop”
and heirs to those who have been subjected to the “Sixties Scoop”
as specified in the Settlement; and, in addition, to supervise and monitor all future work that must be carried out by the Administrator as it pertains to individual payments to Class Members, heirs and others as respectfully specified in the Settlement who will be part of the Exceptions category. The fees, disbursements and applicable taxes of the Claims Administrator shall be paid by the Defendant in accordance with section 6.06 of the Settlement Agreement.
20)
No person may bring any action or take any proceeding against the Administrator, the Foundation Table, the Exceptions Committee or the members of such bodies, the adjudicators, or any employees, agents, partners, associates, representatives, successors or assigns, for any matter in any way relating to the Settlement Agreement, the administration of the Settlement Agreement or the implementation of this judgment, except with leave of this Court on notice to all affected parties.
21)
In the event that the number of persons who appear to be eligible for compensation under the Settlement Agreement who opt out of this class proceeding and the Ontario Action exceeds two thousand (2,000), the Settlement Agreement will be void and this judgment will be set aside in its entirety, subject only to the right of Canada, at its sole discretion, to waive compliance with section 5.09 of the Settlement Agreement.
22)
Rule 334.21(2) does not apply to the plaintiffs in the Class Actions, and those plaintiffs are not excluded from this proceeding despite not having discontinued their parallel Class Actions prior to the Opt Out Deadline.
23)
The fees payable to Class Counsel are hereby set at $37,500,000.00 ($37.5 million) in respect of legal fees plus applicable taxes, inclusive of disbursements, payable as follows:
24)
The amounts set out in paragraph 23 shall be paid by the Defendant to Class Counsel on the Implementation Date in accordance with the Settlement Agreement. The amounts set out in paragraph 23 shall be in addition to the funding in section 4.01 of the Settlement Agreement.
25)
No counsel or law firm listed in Schedule “K” to the Settlement Agreement or who accepts a payment for legal fees from Canada will charge any Class Member any fees or disbursements in respect of an Individual Payment. Each counsel listed in Schedule “K” to the Settlement Agreement undertakes to make no further charge for legal work for any Class Member with respect to claims under this Agreement.
26)
Notice in the manner attached hereto as Schedule “B” shall be given of this judgment, the approval of the Settlement Agreement, the opt out period and the claims period by the commencement of the Notice Plan attached here to Schedule “C”, at the expense of Canada.
27)
This Court may issue such further and ancillary orders, from time to time, as are necessary to implement and enforce the provisions of the Settlement Agreement and this Order.
28)
Class Counsel shall report back to the Court on the administration of the Settlement Agreement at reasonable intervals not less than semi-annually, as requested by the Court and upon the completion of the administration of the Settlement Agreement.
29)
The representative Plaintiffs Wendy White, Jessica Riddle, and Catriona Charlie shall each receive the sum of $10,000 as an honorarium to be paid by the Defendant out of the settlement fund.
30)
The proposed representative plaintiffs in the Provincial Class Actions shall each receive the sum of $10,000 as an honorarium to be paid by the Defendant out of the settlement fund.
31)
This Order will be rendered null and void in the event that the Settlement Agreement is not approved in substantially the same terms by way of order of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
32)
The statutory provisions of the Federal Courts Act, RSC 1985, c F-7 and the Federal Courts Rules, SOR/98-106 shall apply in their entirety to the supervision, operation, and implementation of the Settlement Agreement and this Order.
33)
Reasons will subsequently follow this order.
"Michel M.J. Shore"
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