Message from the Chief Adjudicator
JUNE 2017

The Independent Assessment Process (IAP) is a claimant-centred process that supports healing and reconciliation among former students of Indian Residential Schools, their families and communities. The Indian Residential Schools Adjudication Secretariat administers the IAP.

We are approaching the end of the Independent Assessment Process. To date, more than 97% of all claims have been resolved. We expect to complete most claims by 2018, however based on current projections, a small number of decisions may continue into 2019-20, with final close-up activities to follow.

As we embark on wind-down activities, we remain committed to maintaining the claimant centred focus of the IAP. We will deal with the last claims that come before us with the same care and diligence that we used in the first claims that we resolved. My commitment to former students is to ensure that claimants receive all of the benefits they are entitled to under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

I am also committed to protecting the privacy of claimants and guarding the confidentiality of IAP records. I believe that claimants in the Independent Assessment Process must control the stories of their experiences at residential school.

I support the right of claimants to preserve their testimony and share it in any archive of their choosing. However, unless a claimant specifically consents to their records being archived, documents created and collected in the IAP should be destroyed when they are no longer needed in the IAP. I presented these arguments to the Supreme Court of Canada on May 25, 2017. I believe that IAP records are sensitive, confidential, and must be protected. I will continue to guard the confidentiality of these records while the Courts decide what will happen to them.

I am proud to help former students resolve their claims of abuse. I remain committed to doing everything I can to ensure that the process brings them honour and helps them on their journey of healing and reconciliation.

Dan Shapiro,
Chief Adjudicator
Indian Residential Schools Adjudication Secretariat