Indigenous man launches $600M class-action lawsuit, claiming police mistreatment in Canada’s northern territories

The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit is seeking $500 million in damages and $100 million in punitive damages. (CBC)
A teen in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories (N.W.T.), has launched a $600-million, class-action lawsuit against Canada’s federal police, the RCMP, in Nunavut, the N.W.T. and Yukon after he says he was assaulted and subjected to racial slurs after he was arrested at the age of 15.

Joe David Nasogaluak is the lead plaintiff in the proposed class action, which seeks $500 million in damages and $100 million in punitive damages from the RCMP on behalf of Indigenous people who have been subjected to excessive force by RCMP in the three territories.

A statement of claim was filed in federal court in Edmonton, in the province of Alberta, on Wednesday.

According to a news release from law offices Koskie Minsky LLP in Toronto and Cooper Regel in Edmonton, Nasogaluak’s claim alleges “systemic negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and breaches of sections 7 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

Kirk M. Baert, the lawyer leading the case, says Indigenous people are regularly assaulted by the RCMP “because of who they are.”

“This epidemic of assault amounts to state-sponsored harm against Aboriginal persons,” he states in the release.

Baert’s law firm, Koskie Minksy LLP, is one of the law firms involved in the $800-million Sixties Scoop settlement.

Steven Cooper, another attorney in the Nasogaluak case, was involved in legal work around the Sixties Scoop in Alberta as well.

‘The tip of the iceberg’

The lawyers will have to convince a judge to agree that there’s a group with shared grievances in order for the class action to be certified and proceed.

Cooper told CBC News on Wednesday that his team has interviewed a “small number” of people so far and has found approximately 12 cases that could end up part of the class action.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Cooper said, adding that he expects news of the statement of claim could prompt more people to come forward.

“There are too often cases where people think they’re alone,” he said.

Cooper said people interested in learning more can contact his firm at 1-800-994-7477 or at steve@cooperregel.ca.

A request for comment from the RCMP was acknowledged by the police force, but an interview was not granted on Wednesday.

Related stories from around the North:

Canada: Canada’s federal police faces $1.1B lawsuit over bullying and harassment claims, CBC News

Finland: Police in Arctic Finland overstretched, says retiring officer, Yle News

Sweden: Reports of violent crime increasing in Sweden’s North, Radio Sweden

United States: Alaska reckons with missing data on murdered Indigenous women, Alaska Public Media

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