Mr. Speaker, today I call the attention of the House to a growing concern on the part of many Canadians that the issue of compensation for aboriginal victims of the residential school system is not being dealt with adequately by the government.
In their view, the government should be showing more leadership and more willingness to share the cost with the churches. Surely it is important to make sure that the churches involved do not go bankrupt or are so severely economically damaged that much of their social service and social action work will have to be eliminated just to survive.
It is also important that justice be accomplished swiftly for those who have legitimate claims. This cannot be done if this issue drags on for years, claim by claim.
The churches must and will take their share of the responsibility, but let us not forget that they participated in this social and cultural tragedy at the behest of and in co-operation with the federal government.