Cause of action:

December 2nd 2022 update: This class action has been certified and is being advanced to trial. More updates will come.

Judgment authorizing the class action rendered on 2022.12.01

Application filed on 2021.08.20 / Unofficial English Translation

This case concerns the systemic discrimination Inuit residing in the province of Québec must face whenever they request access to public services.  

Thousands of Quebeckers fall prey to crimes against the person each year.

Victims can usually rely on a publicly administered compensation scheme in order to recover from the physical and psychological impact of such crimes.

The compensation scheme is based upon the premise that (i) crimes cannot be avoided in a society, and (ii) their consequences must be borne by each and every citizen – just as in the case of road traffic and work-related accidents.

The government of Québec has the legal obligation to ensure that all victims of criminal acts can access (and benefit from) the compensation scheme in a fair and timely manner, anywhere in the province.

Since the compensation scheme was established in 1972, the government of Quebec paid more or less 2.2 billion dollars in indemnities, of which 152 million dollars were paid in 2020 alone.

While the compensation scheme has enjoyed relative success and popularity throughout Quebec, victims who reside within Inuit communities of Nunavik are systematically and unfairly deprived of its benefits, despite the fact that the crime rate is substantially higher in Nunavik than in other areas of the province. Each year in Nunavik, nearly 5000 crimes against the person are committed among a population of more or less 12 000 people.

Contrary to what is customary anywhere else in the province of Québec, Victims from Nunavik receive little to no support from the government of Quebec or its representatives.

Literally left behind, victims from Nunavik are statistically forty (40) times less likely to be financially compensated than those who reside elsewhere in the province of Québec.

Although they are perfectly aware of this unfair and discriminatory situation, the government of Quebec does nothing to rectify it.

By ignoring the plight of Victims from Nunavik, the government of Quebec knowingly perpetuates the systemic discrimination that afflicts all Inuit living in Québec.

This class action concerns:  

Any and all individuals who, although they were the direct or indirect victim of a crime against the person perpetrated within Nunavik, were not provided support by the government and its representatives in order to benefit from the compensation scheme established by the Act to Assist Persons who Are Victims of Criminal Offences.

Individuals who, although they were the victim of one or more criminal acts, did not report any of those criminal acts to the public authorities, are excluded from the above group.

Next steps: 

We will publish important updates and and new information here, as well as throughout the press.

For more information, please contact us directly:

Louis-Nicholas Coupal
(514) 903-3390
lnc@coupalchauvelot.com

Victor Chauvelot
(514) 903-3390
victor@coupalchauvelot.com

All your communications will be strictly confidential and free of charge.

Should you believe that you may be a member of this class action, please fill in the information below.

Nakurmik, merci, thank you.