The government stated that it will pay hundreds of Indigenous communities more than $2bn to resolve a lawsuit seeking compensation for residential school-related language and cultural loss. 325 Indigenous groups settled for 2.8 billion Canadian dollars ($2.1bn US) in a trust fund. It will “revitalize Indigenous education, culture, and language — to help survivors in healing and reconnecting with their heritage,” according to a government statement.
The federal court must accept the $2.1bn disbursement terms. From the late 1800s until the 1990s, Canada sent 150,000 children to 139 residential schools. Indigenous children were separated from their relatives, language, and culture in Catholic-run facilities. Many children were physically and sexually molested, and hundreds perished from sickness, hunger, or neglect. “It has taken Canada far too long to stand up to its past, own up to the genocide it perpetrated and accept the collective suffering inflicted to our countries by residential schools,” said Indigenous leader and plaintiff Garry Feschuk. “Canada must acknowledge this injury and walk with us to repair it. In a Saturday statement, he called this resolution a solid start. Over the past two years, hundreds of unmarked graves have been found at defunct schools, highlighting Canada’s colonial heritage. Graves number over 1,300. The Star Blanket Cree community reported this month that ground-penetrating radar found approximately “2,000 sites of interest” in Lebret, Saskatchewan, that need further investigation. A western Canadian residential school found a 125-year-old jawbone piece. “The residential school system destroyed our languages, customs, and left societal problems. It affects future generations. “It will take many generations for us to recover,” said Indigenous leader and plaintiff Shane Gottfriedson.
“We think that all survivors deserve justice and the reparations to which they are owed,” said Marc Miller, federal minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, in the news release. Residential schools were declared “cultural genocide” by a government panel in 2015. Hundreds demanded an impartial probe of Indigenous children’s residential schools. Pope Francis apologized to Indigenous people for the “evil” of residential schools, church-run, forced-assimilation facilities that First Nations, Inuit, and Metis children attended for decades, during a penitential trip to Canada last year.
