Thank you. Good morning.
I'd like to thank the chair and members of the committee for inviting us here today to talk about Indian residential schools and the work the government is doing to attempt to resolve the sad legacy the schools have left behind.
I would like to provide you a brief historical overview, and then describe the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.
If I could correct the record, sir, I have Paul Vickery, who is senior general counsel of the Department of Justice; Linda Barber, who is director general of policy partnerships and communications; and Patricia Power, who is acting director of policy and strategic planning.
The three of us are with the resolution and individual affairs sector of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, and Paul is with the Department of Justice.
Following Confederation in 1867, the Government of Canada began to play a role in the development and administration of Indian residential schools. By the 1920s, the government had assumed control of the Indian residential schools operations, of which there were about 132 schools over time situated in seven out of 10 provinces and all three territories. In many cases the government operated the schools in partnership with religious organizations, and often employees of the government, including Indian agents and the RCMP, compelled attendance at the schools.
Aside from education, one of the stated intents of the Indian residential schools policy was to assimilate the children into the dominant culture. The policy resulted in over 150,000 children being removed from their homes and raised in isolation, away from the influence and comfort of their families, communities, traditions, and cultures. Conditions in the school were often quite harsh, and in some cases even abusive.
While most Indian residential schools ceased to operate by the mid-1970s, the last federally run school in Canada closed only in 1996.
On May 30, 2005, the Government of Canada appointed former Supreme Court Justice, the Honourable Frank Iacobucci, as the government's representative. His mandate was to lead discussions with legal counsel for former students, the Assembly of First Nations, and church entities toward a fair and lasting resolution of the legacy of Indian residential schools. These discussions culminated in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, which was signed by all parties and approved by the government on May 10, 2006.
All nine jurisdictional courts approved the agreement, and it would become the largest class action settlement in Canadian history. The agreement includes five components.
First of all, the Common Experience Payment, knowing as the CEP, provides a lump sum payment for the general experience of being removed from family, community and their care. This payment increases incrementally in relation to the duration of time spent at the school. A trust fund of $1.9 billion was established for the CEP.
The independent assessment process provides additional individual compensation for physical and sexual abuse under an alternative dispute resolution model. Awards range from $5,000 to $430,000.
Measures to support healing include a $125 million endowment to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, and a Health Canada support program of $95 million over five years, which offers counselling and emotional support.
Twenty million dollars will be used to fund commemoration initiatives.
The last major component is the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, with a budget of $60 million.
I'll talk briefly about progress to date.
Implementation of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement commenced on September 19, 2007.
In collaboration with Service Canada, 97,000 applications for common experience payments have been received for review by our office. Seventy-two thousand have been approved for payment, and cheques have been sent out amounting to $1.48 billion, which is an average of $20,500 per claimant. We have an extensive research team with access to a computer-assisted research system. They prepare careful decisions on each individual application.
To date, 20,000 people have been found to be ineligible, either because their school is not on the agreed upon list, because they were day school students, or because we were unable to find records of their attendance.
The government is making every effort to ensure former students receive the compensation for which they are eligible, including a reconsideration process. Twenty-two thousand people have applied for reconsideration, and we have completed 9,000 reviews. Assessment of applications is intended to confirm eligibility, not to reduce it.
In addition, applicants can appeal directly to the national administration committee in the event that their request for reconsideration has been denied, in whole or in part. The national administration committee oversees the implementation of the agreement on behalf of the courts. There have been 1,100 appeals made to date.
Recognizing the impact that the agreement would have, the Government of Canada established the Community Impacts Working Group in early 2006. The community coordinates and informs aboriginal communities and former students about the individual and collective elements of the agreement. We are planning the next meeting to take place in March.
A national Indian residential schools crisis line has been set up to provide support for former residential school students. The crisis line is staffed by trained counsellors who are available to answer calls from former students and their families, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The phone number for the crisis line is 1-866-925-4419.
Should former students or their family members require additional support, they are referred to Health Canada's Indian residential schools resolution health support program, which was developed to support former students and their families through the implementation of the agreement.
At implementation date, the agreement included an agreed upon list of 130 institutions. All decisions on requests for the addition of institutions to the schools list are guided by article 12 of the agreement.
The criteria for adding an institution to the list are: (a) the child was placed in a residence away from the family home by or under the authority of Canada for the purposes of education; and (b) Canada was jointly or solely responsible for the operation of the residence and care of the children resident there.
To date, the department has received over 8,500 requests to add approximately 1,250 institutions to the agreement. Two schools have been added to the list. We continue to process approximately 15 requests per month.
A word about the apology.
On June 11, 2008, the Prime Minister of Canada, on behalf of all Canadians, rose in the House of Commons and issued a full apology to former students of Indian residential schools. This was followed by an apology from each of the leaders of opposition.
Present on the floor of the House were the leaders of the national aboriginal organizations, who also addressed the House in acceptance of the apology. The event was transmitted to a crowd of several thousand who gathered on Parliament Hill and was broadcast across the nation. Survivors of the residential schools watched with anticipation from coast to coast to coast.
The apology garnered international attention. In November 2008 Canada was given an award in Washington, D.C., for the apology by Search for Common Ground, an internationally renowned organization respected for working with local partners to address conflicts constructively.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, or TRC, is the cornerstone of the agreement. The commission will be a positive step in forging a new relationship between aboriginal people and other Canadians. As you most likely know, the TRC has experienced some challenges with the resignation of its chairman and the resignation of two commissioners, which will be effective on June 1, 2009.
The enlistment of Justice Frank Iacobucci to oversee the selection of the new commissioners gives us confidence that the process will be under way soon for the sake of survivors and their families. In the interim, the secretariat has continued to lay the groundwork for the seven national events that are part of the settlement agreement.
Canada has supported this establishment of the TRC. I would like to stress, however, that the assistance Canada has provided to the TRC is strictly related to the operational and administrative set-up. We will continue to be available to the TRC in this regard. The Government of Canada has ensured that the TRC can conduct its important work with complete autonomy.
Getting under way sooner rather than later is indeed critical to regaining the trust and confidence of the survivors, their families, and communities. As I'm certain you can appreciate, they have been waiting for some time to have their opportunity to speak to their individual and collective experiences. Of equal importance, we believe that Canada has also waited for a long time to hear this part of our collective history.
We have high hopes for the TRC and its role in fulfilling the renewal of the relationship with aboriginal people in Canada. Thank you.
