Dans les médias

Court-appointed official moves to 'forever' bar 147 residential school cases from compensation hearings

A court-appointed official tasked with transferring thousands of residential school cases from a disgraced Calgary law firm wants 147 claims barred from ever entering abuse compensation hearings despite evidence some could qualify for payouts, according to recent filings.

Retired B.C. judge Ian Pitfield requested the B.C. Supreme Court rule the 147 cases be "forever barred" from entering the Independent Assessment Process (IAP), which was created by the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement to set compensation levels for survivors who suffered abuse, according to a June 6 filing.

Law Society of Ontario review finds regulator needs to be more culturally competent

A report by a special review panel into the way the Law Society of Ontario deals with Indigenous people has found the provincial regulator needs to be "more culturally competent," and the organization is pledging change.

Top officials with the law society are scheduled to be in Lac Seul First Nation, near Sioux Lookout, Monday to meet with residential school survivors, elders and other community leaders to discuss the report.

The review came in the wake of the regulator's probe into the conduct of Kenora lawyer Doug Keshen, who was accused by more than a dozen residential school survivors of mishandling their claims received from Canada's Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

Diocese of Rupert s Land elects coadjutor bishop

Archdeacon Geoff Woodcroft, the incumbent at St. Paul’s Anglican Church Fort Garry in Winnipeg, was elected coadjutor bishop of the diocese of Rupert’s at an electoral synod Saturday, June 16.

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Woodcroft says his first goals as bishop will be to get to know clergy and their families, to reach out to rural areas and to promote reconciliation. “What permeates everything we do is the spirit and drive towards reconciliation.”

Woodcroft is an associate of Rupert’s Land Indigenous Council and was an Anglican representative at the Independent Assessment Process hearings as part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, listening to the stories of settlement claimants and offering, if invited, statements of apology.

He says he has learned a lot from Indigenous elders. “I think I am a better person because I know that I have to be on a path of reconciliation.”

Survivor calls First Nation living conditions ‘shame and disgrace’ as Canada commemorates residential school apology

As the Trudeau government commemorated the 10th anniversary of Canada’s apology to residential school survivors Monday, one survivor criticized Canada’s reconciliation efforts.

Evelyn Korkmaz, a Cree survivor who attended St. Anne’s residential school in Fort Albany, Ont., spoke ahead of Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett at a news conference on Parliament Hill.

“Canada has a moral [obligation] to improve the lives of their First Peoples,” said Korkmaz. “There’s no excuse whatsoever for our reserves to have undrinkable water, mold-infested housing, poor health care, high suicide rates, and addiction. “This is a shame and a disgrace to Canada.”

In a written statement ahead of the commemoration event, Bennett called the Harper government’s June 11, 2008 apology a “historic milestone in our journey toward reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.”

But Bennett said more needs to be done. “True and lasting reconciliation cannot be achieved through any one single agreement, and that the settlement agreement is not a complete answer to the wrongs of the past of the challenges of the present.”

The 2008 settlement included an official government apology, and to date Canada has financially compensated almost 38,000 survivors a total of $3.1 billion.

I don't trust anybody: St. Anne s survivor feels betrayed, as federal government seeks $25K from lawyer

A former St. Anne’s Indian Residential School student says she has lost faith in Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett after learning the federal government is seeking thousands of dollars in legal fees from a lawyer representing the survivors.

Angela Shisheesh, who attended the Fort Albany, Ont. school infamous for using a homemade electric chair as punishment and entertainment, said she thinks the federal government is warning other lawyers to back down from defending Indigenous people in court.

“I don’t trust anybody anymore,” Shisheesh says.

In a rare legal move, the federal government is seeking $25,000 in legal costs from lawyer Fay Brunning, who has been representing St. Anne’s students for years.

Shot across the bow: Federal government seeking $25K in legal fees from St. Anne s residential school lawyer

The federal government is seeking $25,000 in court fees from an Ottawa lawyer representing the survivors of St. Anne’s Indian Residential School – a rare legal move that critics say is meant to strike fear into other lawyers fighting claims. 

For years, Fay Brunning has been representing survivors of the notorious Fort Albany, Ont. residential school known for operating a homemade electric chair. 

The horrific sexual and physical abuse of Indigenous students at the school has long been the subject of criminal and civil proceedings. 

Among the lawsuits, St. Anne’s survivors have been fighting for access to secret documents they argue are relevant to their compensation claims. 

Some Catholic orders still withholding promised residential school records

Some Catholic orders have still not turned over promised records to the research centre created as a repository for the documented history of residential schools, according to a memo provided to CBC News.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is still waiting to receive about 3,000 residential school-related photographs from the Grey Nuns of Montreal, along with historical records from the Oblates of Grandin Province, based out of St. Albert, Alta.

The centre, which is housed at the University of Manitoba, is also missing the school narratives — summarized histories— of eight residential schools because two orders, the Sisters of St. Ann and the Sisters of Charity of Providence, have refused to sign waivers allowing for their transfer to the centre.

The centre was created by the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. It currently holds about 5 million residential school related records and about 7,000 survivor statements.