CANADA
APTN
By Paul Barnsley and Kathleen Martens
APTN Investigates
SIOUX LOOKOUT, Ont.– For the second time this month a call has come to review the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA).
In early May, Chief Bill Erasmus, the Assembly of First Nations executive member who is responsible for the residential schools portfolio, called for a review of the $4 billion out-of-court settlement that allowed the federal government and several churches to escape having to defend themselves against a handful of class-action lawsuits related to human rights violations and criminal acts committed against children who were students at the schools.
Erasmus said there is widespread criticism amongst the survivors about the way some of the defendants in the original class actions – the federal government and the Catholic Church – have conducted themselves as the settlement agreement has been administered.
Then, on May 17, Garnet Angeconeb, a respected long-time advocate for survivors of residential schools, sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett, and several opposition politicians. APTN Investigates obtained a copy of that letter.
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