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Claims process opens for 'Indian hospitals' settlement

  • Alessia Passafiume

  • Canadian Press

  • January 27, 2026

Ann Hardy pictured at her home in Edmonton Alta, on Tuesday January 30, 2018. Hardy, is the representative plaintiff, in a $1.1-billion class-action lawsuit on behalf of former patients of government-run "Indian hospitals." Ann Hardy alleges she is among those Indigenous victims of sexual abuse. During monthly X-ray sessions at the Charles Camsell Indian Hospital in Edmonton, Alta. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

OTTAWA -- The claims process for a landmark "Indian hospitals" settlement opens today, nearly one year after the federal government reached an agreement with survivors on compensation.

The federal government ran 33 such hospitals for Indigenous people between 1936 and 1981.

Former patients, some of whom spent years in the segregated facilities, filed a lawsuit against the government in 2018 alleging the hospitals were rife with abuse and unfair treatment.

Under the settlement reached last year, the federal government agreed to pay compensation to individual survivors in the range of $10,000 to $200,000.

Class members have until July 2028 to submit a claim.

You may be eligible for compensation if you were admitted to an Indian hospital and experienced any form of abuse there, including psychological, verbal, physical or sexual abuse.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 27, 2026.