The first payments to First Nations people who were harmed by the underfunding of the child welfare system on-reserve and in Yukon are going out this week, according to the Assembly of First Nations (AFN).

At a news conference in Toronto on Thursday, AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said the moment was a "tremendous milestone" for people who waited decades as the case alleging the chronic underfunding of child and family services amounted to systemic racial discrimination was argued before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

"No amount of money will ever give back these people their childhood…. But this is a signal that they have been wronged," she said in an interview with CBC Indigenous.

The payments are part of a $23.4-billion settlement for people removed from their hom

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