Indigenous lawyer wins lawsuit against firm that led class-action for day school survivors

Joan Jack has won her lawsuit against the firm that represented survivors of Indian day schools, alleging she was not compensated for years of her work on the class-action case. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press)Social SharingJoan Jack summed up her six-year legal saga with one word, using it several times: vindication.

The Manitoba Indigenous lawyer filed a lawsuit in 2020 against a firm that represented survivors of federal Indian day schools, alleging she had not been compensated for years of her work on the class-action case — a $1.47-billion settlement reached in 2019.

Jack filed the original statement of claim for the Indian day school lawsuit against Canada in 2009. In 2016, multinational law firm Gowling WLG became the court-approved counsel for the historic class-action suit.

The 2019 settlement included $55 million in legal fees for Gowling.

In her 2020 statement of claim against Gowling, Jack alleged the firm promised remuneration for her work in the settlement process. That never happened, her claim alleged.

"If Gowling had intended to do anything other than what they've done, they would have done that, and they haven't, so I was forced to sue," Jack said in an interview on Tuesday.

A Cree girl learns to print in English at God's Narrows day school in Manitoba. Unknown date. (Richard Harrington/Library and Archives Canada/Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development fonds)In a 46-page decision issued on Aug. 31, 2026, Court of King's Bench Justice Shauna McCarthy ruled in favour of Jack. The damages due from Gowling will be determined at a subsequent hearing, the decision states.

“I feel vindicated for sure. I mean, I've been ridiculed. I've been ostracized. Some pretty important First Nations people have said nasty things about me," said Jack, originally from Berens River First Nation on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg who now lives in British Columbia.

"So to have the judge in the Court of King's Bench say, ‘Actually, no, this is wrong, and the only question here is the amount of damages,’ that's great. It's very clear, I wasn't treated properly."

CBC News has reached out to Gowling WLG for comment on the decision but has not yet heard back.

Students pose for a photo outside of the Indian Day School in 1931 in Fort Norman, now Tulita, N.W.T. (Library and Archives Canada)Nearly 200,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit were forced to attend nearly 700 federally operated day schools for more than a century, beginning in the 1920s. They were shut out of the $1.9-billion Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement brokered in 2006.

Unlike residential school survivors, day school students remained in their communities and went home in the evenings, but they suffered similar abuse and faced cultural assimilation.

In her 2020 statement of claim against Gowling, Jack said she was responsible for initiating the original day school student claim, and spent years making sure survivors got justice.

The original lead plaintiff, Garry McLean from Lake Manitoba First Nation, retained Jack as his lawyer in 2008, the claim said.

Jack's claim said she worked on the case for the next seven years, knowing it was risky. Her own small firm was bankrupted in the process.

She travelled across the country, connecting with thousands of survivors and created a database of their information. She says that information was essential to the final settlement.

Two boys at the Peguis Central Indian day school build a prototype of a model house designed by Indian Affairs for widespread use on reserves. Image is circa 1960. (Department of Citizenship and Immigration/Library and Archives Canada)Despite the ruling in her favour, Jack said she expects Gowling "to appeal and keep fighting."

"You don't want to get too excited, like this is a long, long haul. So … don't count your chickens before they're hatched," she said.

But "the win is the win" for now, she added, saying she sent the decision to a friend who is a long-serving lawyer, to get his reaction.

"He texted me back and he said, ‘This is a great day, Joan.’ He used the word that I was feeling — he said ‘you've been vindicated.’ Vindicated, you know?”

Even in the case of an appeal, she's in a strong position, the friend told her.

“If this is somebody senior, who has done a lot of litigation, thinking that I should be happy, I guess I'll be a little bit happy,” Jack said.

"So often, we as First Nations, Indigenous people, were wronged, you know, legally. The Canadian state still determines who is registered as an Indian or not. That's legalized racism. We live in that reality.

"So when … the system that oppresses us works in our favour, it's cause for a little bit of breathing room."

She also FaceTimed her mom in Manitoba with the news. After her mom used the word "vindicated" she said regardless of whether Jack sees any compensation "they don't get to rewrite history. You did what you did."

Jack, though, would prefer to see some money.

"This is a great portion of my life's work. Of course I want to be paid," she said.

“I've told my children I have a will, and if I die before this is settled, you make sure the estate lawyer tells my lawyer on the fee file here to keep fighting."

Darren Bernhardt has been with CBC Manitoba since 2009 and specializes in offbeat and local history stories. He is the author of two bestselling books: The Lesser Known: A History of Oddities from the Heart of the Continent, and Prairie Oddities: Punkinhead, Peculiar Gravity and More Lesser Known Histories.