A settlement has been reached in a federal class action with former patients of "Indian hospitals" which operated between 1936 to 1981.The plaintiffs will receive an estimated $3 billion to $5.3 billion from the federal government. The ex-patients sought damages or monetary compensation for psychological, verbal, physical and/or sexual abuses experienced..Each class action member will receive between $10,000 to $200,000 each, based on a compensation grid of abuse. An additional $150 million will be allocated to a healing trust, and $235.5 million toward a research and commemoration trust fund. In 2018, when a class action was filed by former patients, they claimed there had been 29 Indian hospitals open between 1945 until 1981. Beginning in the 20th century, the Canadian government created "Indian hospitals" to treat First Nations separately from other Canadian citizens. .They were originally established through federally-funded Christian missionary efforts on reserves in the late 1800s to early 1900s.Most of the hospitals started as tuberculosis sanatoriums but later became general hospitals. The government expanded this system, admitting patients on Indian status instead of disease. By the late 1960s, as medicare was introduced, most of these hospitals began to close. By that time, the majority were located in Ontario and westward.
