CANADA
The Globe and Mail
GLORIA GALLOWAY
OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Jan. 21 2014
The federal Conservative government is taking legal action to force dozens of Catholic organizations that ran aboriginal residential schools to pay their full share of a compensation package promised seven years ago to the schools’ former students.
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt said in a letter this month that the Catholic groups have not fulfilled their part of the Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.
“Although the Catholic Entities have already paid a lot of what they owe under the settlement agreement, it is the government of Canada’s position that they continue to have outstanding obligations,” Mr. Valcourt wrote in a letter dated Jan. 15 to Ronald Kidd, a Vancouver man who had expressed concerns. “Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada is pursuing the Catholics in a legal setting to have the balance paid,” Mr. Valcourt wrote.
The settlement was meant to be a resolution to the tragic legacy of the church-run schools, in which tens of thousands of aboriginal children were taken from their families, often to live in situations of deprivation. At least 3,000 died and many more were subjected to emotional and physical abuse.
While the government paid the lion’s share of the compensation, the churches were also required to make reparations.
The Anglican, Presbyterian and United Churches have met their obligations.
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