Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all the witnesses for your testimony and for your thoughts.
Mr. Anderson, let me start with you. No one is more sympathetic to the plight of victims of the residential school system than I am, but I'm troubled and confused by the suggestion that compensation paid pursuant to that settlement ought to be exempt. I guess I agree with Mr. Sullivan, for reasons that I'm going to explore with you in a second. I have not seen the NDP amendment, but I anticipate that it will create an exemption.
Let me suggest to you, by way of background, that I spent years as an insurance lawyer. Again, I don't mean to sound unsympathetic—because I am very sympathetic—but you indicated that compensation paid to the victims of the residential school system was an attempt to right a wrong. I agree with that, but I must say that all victims of all claims—whether it's a tort claim against a government or whether they're a victim of an automobile accident—believe the compensation they receive is an attempt to right a wrong. That is not to diminish the pain that the individuals you represent went through, but all victims legitimately feel that in their own way.
My question is this. In Manitoba.... I don't know anything about debtor-creditor law in Manitoba, but I know a fair bit about it in Alberta. Residential school settlements would not be exempt from normal provincial execution rights that creditors have, so that if an individual received a settlement pursuant to a residential school settlement, and I was representing a creditor of that individual, I would have full access of execution pursuant to writs and garnishee proceedings. Is there something different in Manitoba that I'm not aware of?