The Schools Settlement, Ottawa Paying out $1.9 Billion to Aboriginal Former Students, by Alexandra Paul, Winnipeg Free Press, January 6, 2008

The Schools Settlement
Ottawa Paying out $1.9 Billion to Aboriginal Former Students

By Alexandra Paul
Winnipeg Free Press
January 6, 2008

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/special_report/story/4102756p-4700982c.html

By the end of January, $1.9 billion should be in the hands of people who had to attend residential schools set up for status Indians.

Aboriginal leaders say children who were forced into the schools under federal law were also systematically stripped of their aboriginal identities, languages and culture under a misguided government assimilation policy. Hundreds of survivors reported sexual, physical and emotional abuse in the institutions. The court-supervised compensation is the first official recognition of the toll the schools exacted on the aboriginal population in Canada. It's also believed to be the largest compensation package ever to First Nations.

In the mall on the Opaskwayak Cree Nation in The Pas, a lineup forms at the bank. Among the deposits are some large payouts from the Indian Residential Schools Resolution.
Photo by Phil Hossack

The Indian Residential Schools Resolution office, handling the distribution of cheques through Service Canada, had estimated the number of eligible recipients at 80,000 coast to coast, but more have filed for cheques. Some will be eligible and some won't be.

The deadline for compensation applications was Sept. 19 for former students at 130 schools in Canada that operated from the 1870s through the 1970s and 1980s. Last year, a total of $82.6 million in advance payments of $8,000 each was paid out to recipients aged 65 and older.

Payment can be reviewed

SURVIVORS who disagree with the size of their compensation cheque can question it directly with Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada, which is distributing the court-supervised $1.9-billion settlement.

Reconsideration is the first step.

It's an internal review within the agency. To get started call 1-800-816-7293 or log on to www.irsr-rqpi.gc.ca

Following reconsideration, individuals can go to the National Administration Committee.

An appeal form is included in letters mailed to applicants with the reconsideration decision and it must be filed within 12 months of a response.

The NAC is a seven-member board of representatives from all the parties that signed the settlement agreement. It includes the federal government, the Assembly of First Nations and legal counsel for the survivors who attended the schools and the churches that ran many of them.

Compensation recognizes the experience of residing at Indian Residential School, including the impacts of the loss of language and culture. There is a lump-sum payment of $10,000 for the first year plus $3,000 for each subsequent year.

In cases where compensation is less than expected, explanatory letters are being mailed separately from cheques.

Where gaps exist in the historical records, survivors are being contacted to provide more information or documentation to help assess residency or duration of stay at a school.

There is a list of 132 schools recognized under the settlement; 14 were in Manitoba. More can be added to the list if the schools meet the criteria of the settlement agreement.

Day schools are not recognized, nor are applicants who died before May 30, 2005.

Families can collect benefits for survivors who died on or after May 30, 2005.

The settlement agreement is court-supervised and the final step in the appeal process is to one of nine Canadian courts that approved it.

The fund represents years of negotiations by the Assembly of First Nations with the federal government that funded the schools and churches that ran them.

Minimum payment under the so-called common-experience settlement is $10,000 for the first year of residential school, plus $3,000 for every year of attendance after that. The average cheque is $21,125.

More than a year ago, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs hired residential school co-ordinator Jennifer Wood to file applications and troubleshoot problems.

AMC toured the province offering workshops and trying to gauge the impact of the cheques on First Nations. The organization held a national conference months ago to prepare eligible recipients.

If there are any rules, Wood said, it's remembering what not to say to residential school survivors.

"I always tell them I'm not here to tell you how to spend your money."

There are positive stories as well as negative ones about the money.

"I'm finding there are a lot of people who are receptive to discussing the impact it's having on them," Wood said.

A celebration of a $25,000 residential school settlement ended in a house fire that killed a Swan River man and his common-law wife in November.

There are stories of rivalries in families where some relatives got cheques and others didn't.

Car dealerships that targeted First Nations have been criticized for their aggressive sales tactics and RCMP have warned recipients to watch for scam artists.

But for all the warnings and scary stories, there are happy ones, too.

So far, in Canada, there have been 81,000 claims; 42,649 of them processed and $712.2 million paid out.

An estimated $145 million in residential school payments will come to Manitoba, a calculation based on a $28,000 payment multiplied by 5,000 estimated eligible residential school survivors alive today.

Contact: alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca