This settlement compensates Indigenous people who, as children, were placed by the Government of Canada in private homes away from their communities in order to attend school. Every approved class member receives $10,000, with a further $10,000 to $200,000 available for abuse suffered — and the window to apply closes February 22, 2027.
Current Status
Claims are open and payments are being made. The Federal Court approved the settlement agreement on December 11, 2023, finding it fair, reasonable and in the best interests of class members. The claim period opened on the Implementation Date, August 21, 2024, and runs to February 22, 2027.As of the administrator's most recent published figures, dated July 3, 2026, 34,691 Category 1 claims and 12,352 Category 2 claims had been filed. Of those, 10,652 Category 1 claims had been approved for payment, totalling $106,520,000, along with 4,506 Category 2 claims totalling $635,750,000. The opt-out deadline passed on July 22, 2024, so exclusion is no longer available.
What the Program Was
The Indian Boarding Homes Program was created by the Government of Canada. It took children from First Nations communities and Inuit villages and placed them in other communities, usually non-Indigenous ones, to live in private homes so that they could attend school. The program began in the 1950s and Canada continued to operate it into the early 1990s.Two lawsuits followed, one in Quebec and one in the Federal Court, brought on behalf of people who as children suffered loss of language and culture, abuse and other harms because of those placements. The Federal Court certified the federal action as a national class proceeding on June 28, 2019. The parties reached an agreement in principle on December 7, 2022 and a settlement agreement on June 15, 2023, and the Federal Court approved it after a hearing held in Vancouver in September 2023.
Separately from individual compensation, Canada is providing $50,000,000 to create a foundation intended to formally recognize the harm the program caused, support healing, and help preserve Indigenous languages and cultures.
Who Qualifies?
To be eligible for compensation, a class member must meet all three of the following conditions:• Placement. Have been placed in a private home during the period September 1, 1951 to June 30, 1992 for the purpose of attending school — or placed after June 30, 1992 if Canada was responsible for the placement. Placements for post-secondary education, such as college or university, do not count.
• Survivorship date. Have been alive on or after July 24, 2016.
• Timely claim. Have submitted a claim before the deadline.
Two exclusions decide a large share of the questions people have. Only placements made by the federal government are eligible: foster care placements arranged for child welfare purposes are not treated as placements by Canada. And only placements in private homes are eligible: living in an Indian Residential School, a Boarding School or a Hostel is not a private-home placement, because those were institutions.
The program mainly placed First Nations and Inuit children. The administrator states that some Métis children were included on a limited basis, and that a Métis person placed by the Government of Canada in a private home to attend primary or secondary school may be a class member and can apply. Where the Category 1 form asks for an Indian status card number or Inuit disc number, a Métis claimant can write that they are Métis instead.
Receiving a Notice of Settlement in the mail does not by itself mean you are eligible — the notice was distributed broadly to reach as many potential class members as possible.
How Much Can You Get?
Compensation comes in two categories, and a class member may claim both.Category 1 — Compensation for Placement. A single payment of $10,000 to anyone Canada placed in the Indian Boarding Homes Program. There is no assessment of harm at this stage; the payment follows from confirmed placement.
Category 2 — Compensation for Abuse. An additional $10,000 to $200,000, depending on the specific harms suffered. The settlement agreement sets five levels, and the Claims Administrator assesses the written account a claimant provides against that grid.
The two are sequenced. A Category 1 form must be submitted first, or at the same time as Category 2. A Category 2 application filed on its own is suspended until a Category 1 form arrives.
This settlement does not divide a fixed pool among claimants. Category 1 pays $10,000 to every approved claimant, and each approved Category 2 claim is paid at its assessed level, so an additional claimant does not reduce anyone else's payment the way a pro rata distribution would.
The five Category 2 compensation levels — summary (contains references to abuse)
Before you open this: the following summarizes the categories of harm the settlement compensates, including physical and sexual abuse. It may be distressing. Support resources are listed further down this page.
Category 2A — $10,000. Sexual comments or sexualized provocation; disproportionate discipline or punishment; incidents of mocking, denigration, humiliation or shaming; threats of violence or intimidating statements or gestures; or a single incident of unreasonable confinement, deprivation of food, medical care, adequate clothing, heating or bedding, forced unpaid labour beyond normal domestic tasks, forced consumption of alcohol, narcotics or noxious substances, or being prevented from attending school.
Category 2B — $50,000. One or more incidents of specified sexual abuse not involving penetration or attempted penetration; or one or more physical assaults causing serious but temporary harm, or minor non-permanent impairment or disfigurement; or two or more of the confinement, deprivation, forced-labour, forced-consumption or schooling incidents listed under 2A.
Category 2C — $100,000. A single incident of more severe sexual abuse, including attempted penetration; or recurring physical assaults causing serious but temporary harm or minor non-permanent impairment.
Category 2D — $150,000. A single incident of penetration; or two or more incidents of attempted oral intercourse or attempted penetration; or one or more physical assaults causing permanent or long-term mental or physical impairment, injury or disfigurement.
Category 2E — $200,000. Two or more incidents of the most severe forms of sexual abuse; or any pregnancy resulting from a sexual assault, including a pregnancy interrupted by miscarriage or therapeutic abortion; or one or more physical assaults causing permanent mobility loss or brain injury.
This is a condensed summary. The settlement agreement and the official claim protocol set out each level in full detail, and the assessment is made against that full text rather than this summary.
Do You Need a Lawyer?
No. Claimants may complete and submit the forms themselves, and the Claims Administrator provides assistance.A claimant who does want legal help on a Category 2 claim can hire a lawyer of their choice, and Canada pays that lawyer 5 percent of the Category 2 payment plus tax — separately, so it is not deducted from the claimant's compensation. Canada does not pay lawyer fees for Category 1 claims. A lawyer may assist at any point in the process, including reconsideration and independent review, and must identify themselves on the form.
What Proof Is Required?
There is no administrator-issued Notice ID or PIN to enter. What the forms require is identifying information — including, for Category 1, an Indian status card number or Inuit disc number where applicable — together with whatever details the claimant can give about the placement. The forms also invite optional information, which helps confirm participation but whose absence does not on its own trigger follow-up.The verification burden is deliberately not placed entirely on claimants. Category 1 information is forwarded to Canada, which searches its own files to confirm the placement — school records, the names of the people who ran the boarding home, or the names of other children placed in the same home. Canada then reports back that the person was a participant, was likely not a participant, or that it has insufficient information to say. Where Canada cannot confirm placement, the Claims Administrator asks the claimant for more information, and if nothing that emerges raises doubt about eligibility, the claimant is treated as eligible.
For Category 2, the proof is the claimant's own written account. The Claims Administrator reviews the narrative to confirm that the abuse was connected to the Indian Boarding Homes Program and to determine the level of harm under the compensation grid.
If required information is missing, the claim is treated as incomplete rather than refused: the administrator sends a Notice of Missing Information and the claimant has up to one year to supply it, with extensions available on request. Three notices are sent, the last 300 days after the first, and a claim is only denied if nothing arrives within 60 days after that final notice.
What Is the Deadline?
The claim deadline is February 22, 2027 — two years and six months after the August 21, 2024 Implementation Date. The settlement agreement allows extensions in exceptional circumstances during the six months that follow, but that is a discretionary safety valve rather than a second deadline to plan around.The opt-out deadline was July 22, 2024 and has passed, so class members can no longer exclude themselves from the settlement.
How Do You Take Action?
Each compensation category has its own form, and there are three versions of each depending on who is filing: individual forms for class members filing for themselves, personal representative forms for someone filing on behalf of a class member who is a person under disability, and estate representative forms for an executor or highest-priority heir filing for a class member who has died.Forms can be completed through the online submission portal on the official settlement website, downloaded and completed electronically or by hand, or obtained on paper through the administrator's community outreach and regional partners. Completed forms may be submitted through the online portal, emailed, mailed or faxed to the Claims Administrator. The official settlement website also offers an eligibility checker for anyone unsure whether they qualify.
The administrator sends an Acknowledgement Notice within four to eight weeks of receiving each form, and advises anyone who has not received one within eight weeks to follow up. Applications are sorted by age, with elders prioritized.
What Happens Next?
The claim period continues until February 22, 2027, and the administrator publishes updated filing and payment statistics as processing continues. Approved claims are paid by direct deposit or a mailed cheque.A denial, or a Category 2 approval at a lower level than requested, comes with written reasons, a Reconsideration Form and instructions for requesting reconsideration; where the decision relied on information Canada supplied, that information is disclosed to the claimant. An independent review process is available beyond reconsideration. Claims filed for a class member who has died, or who dies before approval without having appointed an estate executor, are handled under the settlement's Estate Claims Protocol.
Support Is Available
Emotional and mental health counselling and crisis support is available to class members 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness Help Line, which can be reached through the Hope for Wellness website. Counselling is available in English, French, Cree, Ojibway and Inuktitut on request.The settlement's own resources page lists the health services available to class members and how to access them.
Sources and Verification
• Official settlement website, administered by PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc.• Official settlement FAQs — eligibility, categories and compensation grid
• Indian Boarding Homes Program Claim Protocol — submission, review, missing-information and reconsideration procedures
• Settlement & Claim Updates — filing and payment statistics as of July 3, 2026
• Court documents, including the Notice of Settlement in Oji-Cree, Mi'kmaq, Dene, Inuktitut, Atikamekw, Anishinaabemowin, Cree and Innu
• Federal Court of Canada — reasons for approval of the settlement, Justice Pamel
Questions
Who is eligible for the Indian Boarding Homes settlement?
You must have been placed in a private home by the Government of Canada for the purpose of attending school between September 1, 1951 and June 30, 1992, or after June 30, 1992 if Canada was responsible for the placement. Post-secondary placements do not count. You must also have been alive on or after July 24, 2016, and must submit a claim before the February 22, 2027 deadline.
Are foster care placements or residential schools covered by this settlement?
No. Only placements made by the federal government, and only placements in private homes, are eligible. Foster care placements made for child welfare purposes are not treated as placements by the federal government. Time spent living in an Indian Residential School, a Boarding School, or a Hostel is not treated as time in a private home, because those were institutions rather than private residences.
What is the difference between a Category 1 and a Category 2 claim?
Category 1 is a single $10,000 payment for having been placed in the Indian Boarding Homes Program at all. Category 2 is additional compensation of $10,000 to $200,000 for abuse suffered during the placement, assessed against a five-level grid in the settlement agreement. You may claim both, but the Category 1 form must be submitted first or at the same time — a Category 2 application filed on its own is suspended until a Category 1 form arrives.
Do I need a lawyer, and will it cost me anything?
A lawyer is optional. If you hire one to help with a Category 2 claim, Canada pays that lawyer 5 percent of your Category 2 payment plus tax, and that fee does not come out of your compensation. Canada does not pay lawyer fees for Category 1 claims. A lawyer may assist at any stage, including reconsideration and independent review.
What if I have no documents proving I was placed in a boarding home?
The claim process does not put the burden entirely on you. Category 1 information is sent to Canada, which searches its own files for confirmation — school records, the names of the people who ran the boarding home, or the names of other children placed in the same home. If Canada cannot confirm placement, the Claims Administrator contacts you for additional information, and if nothing raises doubt about eligibility after that, the claim is treated as eligible.
Can a claim be filed for someone who has died or cannot file for themselves?
Yes. There are three form types: individual forms for class members filing for themselves, personal representative forms for someone filing on behalf of a class member who is a person under disability, and estate representative forms for an estate executor or highest-priority heir filing for a class member who has died. Eligibility still requires that the class member was alive on or after July 24, 2016.
What happens if my claim is denied or approved for less than I asked for?
Any denial, or any Category 2 approval at a level lower than requested, comes with written reasons, a Reconsideration Form and instructions for requesting reconsideration. If the decision relied on information Canada provided, that information is disclosed to you. An independent review process is also available, and a lawyer may assist at these stages. If a claim is incomplete, you get a Notice of Missing Information and up to a year to supply what is missing, with extensions available on request.
Are Métis people eligible for this settlement?
Possibly. The program mainly placed First Nations and Inuit children, but the settlement administrator states that some Métis children were included on a limited basis. If you are Métis and were placed in a private home by the Government of Canada to attend primary or secondary school, you may be a class member and can apply. Where the Category 1 form asks for an Indian status card number or Inuit disc number, you can write that you are Métis instead.
