Judge dismisses Métis residential students’ class-action lawsuit

Regina lawyer Tony Merchant says a judge has refused to give class-action certification to a Métis lawsuit over residential school abuse of about 2,000 students who attended the Timber Bay residential school in Montreal Lake, Sask., between 1952 and 1994. Merchant says he plans to appeal the decision. The plaintiffs claimed they were physically, sexually and emotionally abused. The Timber Bay School is one of many across Canada the federal government does not recognize as a residential school. As a result, its former students were left ineligible for compensation under the residential school settlement that awarded $1.9 billion to thousands of victims.