As many as 350 aboriginal people in Manitoba who received agricultural training and loans from a now-defunct federal program want to take the government to task.
In the early 1990s, the Manitoba Indian Agricultural Development Corp. Inc. stopped a loans program for aboriginal farmers, making it difficult for most to continue farming.
“It created different problems for different people,” said Bradley Minuk.
Minuk is a Winnipeg lawyer who filed a class-action suit against the federal government on behalf of the aboriginal farmers.
The corporation had invested in a failed rabbit meat processing plant at Swift Current, Sask.
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But Minuk’s clients believe the corporation should have kept its money in the province to lend to aboriginal farmers.
“The federal government had a mandate to ensure the thing was running properly,” said Minuk.
The corporation folded on June 2, 1993. Minuk would not comment on why the suit is coming forward six years later.
The group is requesting a variety of damages because of the problems they faced after the corporation folded.
Minuk said he will meet soon with clients to begin documenting how they were affected. He suspects the damages will add up to millions of dollars.
The federal department of justice has not responded to the suit.
