Notices to Counsel | Settlement of certain student-on-student abuse claims

On March 13, 2018, Minister Bennett released a statement that included:

• “… the government believes that there are some instances where Indian Residential School survivors who suffered abuse at the hands of fellow students may not have received fair compensation.
• Therefore I am announcing our Government will pursue negotiated settlements with survivors whose claims of student-on-student abuse were previously dismissed or under-compensated. This action could help approximately 240 eligible former students by ensuring they receive fair compensation for abuse suffered at Indian residential schools.”

Full Text of statement from Minister Bennett: Regarding Canada's pursuance of negotiated settlements with former Indian Residential School students who suffered student-on-student abuse

It is anticipated that these cases will be dealt with, not under the IAP or the Negotiated Settlement Process (NSP), but instead rather by way of settlement outside of the purview of the IAP. It is expected that this will be similar to the process Canada used in order to negotiate settlements of administrative split cases that had already been decided with a result averse to the claimant. In other words, there will be no role for adjudicators in such cases, either in the assessment of the amount of the settlement or in relation to the approval of legal fees.

Please direct any inquiries to Canada’s Representative that will be dealing with these claims, Deanna Sitter (deanna.sitter@canada.ca).

Student-on-student claims that have not yet led to a decision will proceed in the usual way.

Dan Shapiro,
Chief Adjudicator,
Independent Assessment Process

Statement by Chief Adjudicator Dan Shapiro on Canada’s decision on Student-on-Student claims