CANADA
CTV
Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, August 7, 2014
TORONTO — Sensitive testimony from survivors of Canada’s notorious residential school system should be kept for 15 years then destroyed, an Ontario court has ruled.
In a decision released Thursday, Superior Court Justice Paul Perell said the time should be used to see whether those involved might agree to have their records transferred to a new national archive.
“During the 15-year retention period, there shall be a court-approved program to advise the survivors of their choice to transfer some of the documents instead of having (them) destroyed,” Perell wrote.
Residential school survivors have respiratory damage, hearing loss, broken bones
Court urged to seal, not destroy, residential school records
The justice said that destroying the documents is necessary to protect the confidentiality and privacy of the information, and to safeguard the assessment process itself.
If survivors want their records kept, the material will have to be redacted to protect perpetrators or other third parties.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.