Canada has pledged up to C$40bn ($31bn; £23.6bn) in compensation for indigenous children and families who suffered discrimination while in foster care. In September, a top court upheld a 2016 ruling that the government underfunded First Nations services compared with those for non-indigenous children. It ordered C$40,000 ($31,350; £23,340) payouts to each child who was in the on-reserve welfare system after 2006. The government initially said it would appeal the verdict. But it has come under intense public scrutiny after the discovery of over 1,100 unmarked graves at the sites of former residential schools. Until as recently as 1996, Canada’s residential school system separated indigenous children from their families and sent them to boarding schools where many were malnourished, beaten and sexually abused. The school system was part of attempts to assimilate indigenous children – forcing them to abandon their native languages and convert to Christianity.(BBC)…[+]