The federal government’s request to stay the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal’s order for Ottawa to compensate First Nations kids affected by a discriminatory child welfare system has been denied.

The federal court has also denied the respondent First Nations Child and Family Caring Society’s request to adjourn or stay the Crown’s application for a judicial review, meaning that will go ahead.

As The Canadian Press has reported, lawyers finalized their arguments in Federal Court on Tuesday and Justice Paul Favel said he would deliver his decision as soon as possible.

Canada was challenging the tribunal’s ruling ordering the federal government to pay $40,000 to every child who was improperly taken away from their parents after 2006, and the parents and grandparents whose children were taken were also to be compensated.

The Liberal government, through its lawyers, asked the Federal Court to stay the order, which imposed a Dec. 10 deadline for the government to come up with a plan on how it would provide payment to victims. The First Nations Caring Society called on the court to let the tribunal set up the compensation process.

According to the ruling issued Friday the judge found that Canada “has not satisfied the three-part test to stay the decision” of the tribunal’s compensation ruling, but that the Caring Society had also “not satisfied the Court that it should exercise its discretion to stay or adjourn” the federal government’s judicial review application.

With files from The Canadian Press

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