Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement facts for kids
The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA; French: Convention de règlement relative aux pensionnats indiens, CRRPI) is an agreement between the government of Canada and approximately 86,000 Indigenous peoples in Canada who at some point were enrolled as children in the Canadian Indian residential school system, a system which was in place between 1879 and 1997. The IRSSA recognized the damage inflicted by the residential schools and established a C$1.9-billion compensation package called CEP (Common Experience Payment) for all former IRS students. The agreement, announced in 2006, was the largest class action settlement in Canadian history.
As of March 2016, a total of C$1,622,422,106 has been paid to 79,309 former students. An additional C$3.18 billion has been paid out to 31,103 former students as of March 31, 2019, through IAPs (Independent Assessment Process) which are for damages suffered beyond the norm for the IRS.
Contents
Indian residential schools
Indian residential schools were a network of "boarding schools" for Native Canadians (First Nations or "Indians"; Métis and Inuit). These schools operated in all Canadian provinces and territories except Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The first school opened in 1828, and the last one closed in 1997. The last school to close was Kivalliq Hall in Rankin Inlet, in what is now Nunavut; it became a IRSSA-recognized school in 2019 following a court ruling, which is why earlier accounts describe the last school closing in 1996.
Funded by the Canadian government's Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and administered by Christian churches, predominantly the Roman Catholic Church in Canada (60%), but also the Anglican Church of Canada (30%), and the United Church of Canada, including its pre-1925 constituent church predecessors (10%). The policy was to remove children from the influence of their families and culture and assimilate them into the dominant Canadian culture. Over the course of the system's existence, approximately 30% of native children, roughly some 150,000, were placed in residential schools nationally.
History of the IRSSA
In November 1996, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) issued its final 4,000-page report with 440 recommendations. Indian residential schools were the topic of one chapter. In 1998 in response to the RCAP the Canadian federal government unveiled Gathering Strength: Canada's Aboriginal Action Plan, a "long-term, broad-based policy approach in response to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples which included the "Statement of Reconciliation: Learning from the Past," in which the "Government of Canada recognizes and apologizes to those who experienced abuse at Indian residential schools and acknowledges its role in the development and administration of residential schools."
In 2001, the federal Office of Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada was created to manage and resolve the large number of abuse claims filed by former students against the federal government. In 2004, an Assembly of First Nations Report on Canada’s Dispute Resolution Plan to Compensate for Abuses in Indian Residential Schools led to discussions to develop a holistic, fair and lasting resolution of the legacy of Indian Residential Schools.
The law firm of Regina, Saskatchewan lawyer, Tony Merchant, Q.C.—Merchant Law Group LLP—represented over 7,000 survivors—approximately 50 per cent of "all known" residential school survivors in Canada" who had pursued class action lawsuits" against the Canadian federal government . Following the publication of the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples report, residential school survivors met across the country at gatherings, also attended by Tony Merchant, who became a "familiar figure", signing up thousands of survivors for a class action law suit. MLG lawyers received "nothing until a class action settlement was secured" in a legal fees agreement that was settlement-driven. David Blott's Calgary, Alberta-based law firm "handled almost 4,600 residential school claims."
On November 20, 2005, an agreement in principle was reached by the negotiating parties which included Canada, as represented by Frank Iacobucci, a retired Supreme Court of Canada Justice, the plaintiffs' representative—the National Consortium and the Merchant Law Group (MLG), independent Counsel, the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit representatives, the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Presbyterian Church in Canada, the United Church of Canada, and Roman Catholic Entities for the "resolution of the legacy of Indian Residential Schools."
On 23 November 2005 the Canadian federal government announced the IRSSA compensation package. It represents the largest class-action lawsuit in Canadian history. On 11 June 2008, Prime Minister Harper "apologized on behalf of the Government of Canada, and all Canadians, for the forcible removal of Aboriginal children from their homes and communities to attend Indian residential schools. In this historic Apology, the Prime Minister recognized that there is no room in Canada for the attitudes that created the residential school system to prevail."
In Regina, Saskatchewan, on December 15, 2006, Justice Dennis Ball, approved the "settlement of class and individual residential school claims" under the IRSSA.
Components of the IRSSA
The agreement was signed on May 8, 2006, with implementation on September 19, 2007.
Federal government contributions
The five main components of the IRSSA provided by the federal government were the Common Experience Payment (CEP), Independent Assessment Process (IAP), the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Commemoration, and Health and Healing Services.
Common Experience Payment (CEP)
The IRSSA offered former students blanket compensation through the Common Experience Payment (CEP) with an average lump-sum payment of C$28,000. The CEP, a component of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, totaling C$1.9 billion, was "part of an overall holistic and comprehensive response to the Indian residential school legacy." Payments were higher for more serious cases of abuse. The CEP recognized "the experience of living at an Indian Residential School(s) and its impacts. All former students who resided at a recognized Indian Residential School(s) and were alive on May 30, 2005 were eligible for the CEP. This include[d] First Nations, Métis, and Inuit former students." This initial payment for each person who attended a residential school amounted to C$10,000 per person plus C$3,000 per year. The application deadline for CEP was 19 September 2011 with some exceptions made until September 19, 2012. By 31 December 2012, "a total of 105,540 applications were received under the common experience payment. C$1.62 billion was paid to "78,750 recipients, representing 98% of the 80,000 estimated eligible former students."
Independent Assessment Process
The IRSSA allotted C$960 million to the Independent Assessment Process (IAP), a settlement fund for physical abuse and other wrongful acts at IRS which provides money to those who were abused at an Indian Residential School. By 31 December 2012, over C$1.7 billion in total was issued through the IAP. around three times more applications were received than expected, and the IAP is forecast to continue hearings until around 2017. By 2011 there were already 29,000 claims, double the 12,500 originally estimated by the IRSSA and this number was expected to rise even more. According to Dan Ish, Indian Residential School Adjudication Secretariat chief adjudicator for the IAP, estimated in 2012 that IAP claims would be somewhere between two and three billion dollars more than anticipated.
The fate of the records documenting over 38,000 IAP claims was placed in front of Canadian courts. The Supreme Court of Canada decided that on September 19, 2027 all records generated through IAP will be destroyed unless the Survivor mentioned in the record indicates that they wish the record is preserved. The Supreme Court decision indicated that IAP records can only be requested for preservation by Survivors. Family members are unable to ask for records to be saved, meaning that IAP records of people who have died since the time of their IAP claim and before this process was established, will not be saved.
Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission
IRSSA allocated C$60 million for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to document and preserve the experiences of survivors. The Commission was launched 2 June 2008. On 20 October 2008, Justice Harry LaForme, Commission chair resigned, claiming "the commission was on the verge of paralysis and doomed to failure. He cited an "incurable problem" with the other two commissioners — Claudette Dumont-Smith and Jane Brewin Morley — who he said refused to accept his authority as chairman and were disrespectful." On 15 October 2009 the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission was relaunched by then-Governor General Michaëlle Jean with Justice Murray Sinclair, an Ojibway-Canadian judge, First Nations lawyer, as the chair. By August 2012, the federal government had released over 941,000 documents to the TRC related to residential schools.
Health and Healing Services
On 31 March 1998 in response to the RCAP and as part of Gathering Strength—Canada's Aboriginal Action Plan, the federal government established the Aboriginal Healing Foundation (AHF), an "Aboriginal-managed, national, Ottawa-based, not-for-profit private corporation", with a C$350 million-dollar grant and an eleven-year mandate from March 1998 to March 2009. In 2007, under the IRSSA, the federal government provided $125 million to the AHF, which was intended to provide five years of funding. Further funding was to come from the money paid by the Catholic entities under section 3.3 of Schedule O-3, of which at least 80% was to be transferred to the AHF. A court dispute over the amount of money due to the AHF because of this obligation subsequently arose between the government and the Catholic entities.
IRSSA also supported the Resolution Health Support Worker (RHSW) Program.
Commemoration Fund
The IRSSA allocated C$20 million for the Commemoration Fund for national and community commemorative projects. This fund was managed by the TRC and Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.
Church contributions
The church entities signed agreements to provide financial and in-kind support for healing and reconciliation programs, as outlined in the following table. Compensation payments made prior to the implementation of the IRSSA were credited against these obligations.
| Denomination | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Presbyterian | Anglican | Catholic | United | ||
| IRSSA Schedule | O-1 | O-2 | O-3 | O-4 | |
| Commitments under prior agreements (replaced by IRSSA commitments) | $2,100,000 | $25,000,000 | — | — | |
| Amounts paid out in compensation as of Nov. 20, 2005 and explicitly noted in respective Schedules | $227,412 | $6,699,125 | Not stated in Schedule O-3 | $5,444,420 | |
| Cumulative amounts paid out in compensation prior to IRSSA implementation (Sep. 2007) | At least $366,894 | At least $7,698,419 | $8,344,575 | ⪆ $5,996,000 | |
| Total commitments under IRSSA | Maximum | $1,317,700 | $15,687,188 | $79,000,000 | $6,891,170 |
| Minimum | $900,700 | $12,922,800 | $54,000,000 | $6,455,020 | |
| Components of commitments | Credit for previous compensation payments | Used in computation of reduced settlement amount of $1,317,700
If amount paid between Nov. 20, 2005 and the IRSSA implementation date in excess of $489,540, Government to pay excess amount for use in settlement fund |
$6,699,125 included in total above; further amounts paid between Nov. 20, 2005 and the IRSSA implementation date refunded by Government and used as P in formula below | Deducted from $29,000,000 cash commitment | $5,444,420 credited against the cash and in-kind services obligations; further amounts paid between Nov. 20, 2005 and the IRSSA implementation date refunded by Government; up to $1,010,600 of any refund to be used for healing and reconciliation grants in accordance with agreement |
| Cash | Total amount above less any amount provided as in-kind services |  , where
P is the amount of compensation paid by Anglican Entities between Nov. 20, 2005 and the IRSSA implementation date, and F is the amount raised by the Catholic fundraising campaign. Maximum contribution: $4,964,300 |
$20,655,425
($29,000,000, less $8,344,575 paid before IRSSA implementation) |
$4,710,420 if Catholic fundraising campaign raised over $20 million;
$4,274,270 otherwise |
|
| In-kind services | Up to $417,000 | $4,023,675 (cash may be substituted for services) | $25,000,000 | $2,180,750 | |
| Fundraising | — | — | 7-year (2007-2014) "best efforts" campaign with target of $25,000,000 | — | |
Legal representation
Crawford Class Action was the court-appointed administrator. C$100-million was allocated by IRSSA for the payment of plaintiffs’ legal fees.
See also
- Cultural genocide
- First Nations
- Idle No More
- Racism in North America
