CANADA
The Globe and Mail
GLORIA GALLOWAY
OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Dec. 17 2013
Lawyers for the survivors of one of Canada’s most notorious residential schools say an order of nuns who taught at the institution is trying to stop them from obtaining police documents that could support their claims for federal compensation.
The lawyers, who represent about 60 former students of St. Anne’s Indian Residential School in Fort Albany, Ont., are scheduled to appear in a Toronto courtroom Tuesday to ask whether the federal government is obligated to hand over thousands of documents created by the Ontario Provincial Police during a five-year investigation into abuses at the school that was conducted in the 1990s.
That investigation resulted in the conviction of five former employees, including Anna Wesley and Jane Kakeychewan, both former members of the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa. The nuns were found guilty of assaulting children but served no time in jail.
The former students want the OPP documents to bolster their case for compensation under the Independent Assessment Process (IAP), an out-of-court method for resolving claims of sexual and serious physical abuse at the schools. Late last week, they were told the nuns will try to stop the case from proceeding.
“I can confirm to you that there was a request made on Friday afternoon at 5 o’clock for an adjournment by the Sisters of Charity,” said Fay Brunning, a lawyer for the former students. “We are not agreeing to an adjournment.”
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