Mi’kmaq welfare fight with federal government given new life – CBC

Ottawa has been fighting with Mi’kmaq bands in the Maritimes over welfare rates since 2011

December 2, 2015

A 51-year-old document discovered in Canada’s national archives is giving new life to a Mi’kmaq legal fight with the federal government over social assistance benefits.

The battle began in 2011 when the Harper government tried to impose a change on social assistance rates on Mi’kmaq reserves in the Maritimes and demanded parity with provincial programs.

This change would have resulted in a 40 to 60 per cent reduction in rates, which the bands say would have caused extreme hardship.

Twenty-six Mi’kmaq bands pooled their resources and asked for a federal judicial review. The case worked its way through the legal system, but the bands lost in front of the Federal Court of Appeal.