The Anishinabek Nation is offering one-on-one help to people in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, who need to apply for compensation from two major federal settlements. These personal sessions are designed to help survivors and their families navigate the paperwork for the Indian Boarding Homes program and the First Nations child-welfare settlement.
Support is available through a specialist at the Anishinabek Nation satellite office in Garden River First Nation. These meetings are trauma-informed and intended to be supportive because filling out legal forms can be stressful and upsetting for many people who must recall difficult past experiences.
The Indian Boarding Homes Class Action covers students who were placed in private homes to attend school between 1951 and 1992. The window to file these claims opened on August 21, 2024; the claims website and administrator provide forms and supports for people seeking compensation for harms such as abuse or loss of culture while living away from their families.
The First Nations Child and Family Services (FNCFS) settlement — a roughly $23.3-billion agreement to compensate First Nations children and families harmed by discriminatory underfunding of child-welfare services on reserve — began its initial claims process in 2025 (the first claims period for the initial classes opened on March 10, 2025) and the first payments to claimants were reported to have begun rolling out in 2025.
Local residents can book an appointment with a Reconciliation Navigator to get help gathering documents and completing forms. Having this direct support in-community helps ensure complicated paperwork does not prevent eligible people from accessing the compensation for which they qualify.
