Federal judge to decide if $600M MMIWG class action, alleging systemic RCMP negligence, proceeds

Whether or not a massive class action for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls can move forward is now up to a judge to decide, after lawyers made arguments for and against certification in a Federal Court hearing in Regina on Thursday.

The certification hearings for the $600-million lawsuit against the federal government and RCMP started Monday. About 60 families have signed on to the case, alleging systemic racism in the way the RCMP handled the deaths and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls.

"The government of Canada has not gone forward with anything regarding the wrongs, and it's for the judicial branch of government to take charge and to force a resolution," said Regina's Tony Merchant, principal of Merchant Law Group and the lawyer representing the plaintiffs.

The government also shouldn't be the one to dictate the way forward, said Merchant. A judge should make that decision after hearing arguments, he said.

The lawyer representing the federal government argued Thursday there is not enough commonality between members of the class action for this case to proceed.

But Merchant says that's a boilerplate defence in a case such as this.

"When you think about it, they all have the same complaints. The police didn't treat them well, the police thought that their rights were substandard rights," he said.

The defence also argued, among other things, that Diane BigEagle should not be the primary plaintiff of the case, because it was the Regina Police Service —  not the RCMP — who searched for her daughter.

Danita Faith BigEagle has been missing since 2007. Diane BigEagle reported her daughter's disappearance to police and did several interviews.

Four years later, an RCMP officer was brought on to open a dialogue between her and the Regina Police Service, but BigEagle says there never was an investigation, the officer did not review previous police work, and the search didn't extend outside Regina city limits.

The investigation into Danita's disappearance remains open.

Merchant is hopeful that the judge will decide in favour of the plaintiffs and allow the class action to proceed.

A class action allows a large number of people, who all allege they've been been harmed by the same party, to seek legal reparations. The plaintiffs share the legal costs and would split whatever is granted to them if they win.

There is no word on when the judge will release her decision.

The Federal Court hearing in Regina began on Monday. Justice Glennys McVeigh, who is originally from Saskatchewan, flew from Ottawa to oversee the proceedings. The primary lawyer for the Crown is Christine Ashcroft.