The Assembly of First Nations and the federal government have agreed to a $3.4 billion increase in a child welfare agreement.

Indigenous Affairs minister Patty Hajdu says $23.4 billion dollars will be spent to compensate Indigenous people harmed by the child welfare system.

“People worked really, really hard to get to a place, where I think all parties agree, this is satisfactory,” Hajdu stated in a press conference Thursday morning.

“So now I think the process of designing the system to ensure people can access the compensation fairly, which will be delivered by a third party, begins.

Ashley Bach is the lead plaintiff involved in a class action lawsuit with the government and and says the extra compensation is only part of why the agreement is important.

“The apology by the Prime Minister means so much.  It signifies Canada really, truly does recognize and understand those harms that they perpetuated against us.  So it’s like a moment in time where people can be like, ‘okay, this harm thats been done to us…its been acknowledged and now we can start to heal’.”

Under the agreement, 13,000 more children will be eligible for a $40,000 lump sum payment that were not covered in the original deal.