Manitoba Children’s Special Allowance Settlement — $445.2M CAD

Canada Government Settlement · Claims Open

Current Status

Claims are open. The deadline to submit a Claim Registration Form is January 5, 2027; the settlement documents do not state a time of day or time zone. The Manitoba Court of King’s Bench approved the settlement on September 5, 2024, and the claims period opened January 6, 2025. Payments are issued on a rolling basis as each claim is assessed, with a possible second payment after the claims period ends.

What Changed Recently?

The settlement resolves two class actions against the Government of Manitoba, known together as the Flette/Lavallee Class Actions, over the Children’s Special Allowance (CSA), a federal benefit paid for children in care that the court-approved notice describes as the equivalent of the Canada Child Benefit that parents receive. According to the notice, from January 1, 2005 to March 31, 2019 Manitoba required Child and Family Services (CFS) agencies to remit those payments to the province. The class actions alleged the money should have been used for the children it was paid for.

The notice also explains that Manitoba passed legislation in 2020 that deemed lawsuits over the policy dismissed, and that in 2022 the Court of King’s Bench found Manitoba’s actions unconstitutional and discriminatory. The classes were certified on December 13, 2023, an agreement in principle followed on March 19, 2024, and the court approved the final settlement on September 5, 2024. The settlement agreement states that it is not an admission of liability by Manitoba. Claims have been accepted since January 6, 2025, and the window now has about three months left.

Who Qualifies?

The class is every person, and the estate of every person, who was in the care of a Manitoba CFS agency at any time between January 1, 2005 and March 31, 2019 and was deemed a provincial funding responsibility while in care. Two agencies are excluded: the Metis Child, Family and Community Services Agency and Michif Child and Family Services. Time in those agencies is covered instead by a separate case, the Lafontaine Class Action, and a person who spent time in both a Métis agency and another agency during the period may belong to both classes.

The settlement website says a claimant does not need to know their exact dates in care, the name of their agency, or whether they were provincially funded before applying. The Claims Administrator checks the claim against CFS agency records to decide eligibility. A former child in care who is now 18 or older can file their own claim. A claim can also be filed on a class member’s behalf by a legal guardian, an estate executor or administrator, a power of attorney, the Public Guardian and Trustee, or the CFS agency that has care of a current child in care. Only the class member, or their estate, receives compensation.

How Much Can You Get?

Manitoba is paying $445,200,000 CAD. Legal fees, administration costs and CFS legal costs come out of that fund first, and any money left after eligible claims are paid goes to a charitable purpose. The notice states that because payments depend on how many people come forward, it is not possible to estimate individual amounts.