We call upon the parties and, in particular, the federal government, to work collaboratively with plaintiffs not included in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement to have disputed legal issues determined expeditiously on an agreed set of facts.
Why “Stalled?”
April 30, 2024: APTN News – A lawyer representing survivors of St. Anne’s Indian Residential School in northern Ontario says there needs to be a public inquiry into how Justice Canada handled documents related to them…survivors have been trying to get documents related to the schools turned over to their lawyers. The federal government under Conservatives and Liberals has fought them every step of the way.
Although the government has negotiated settlement agreements with a number of parties excluded from the original Indian Residential Schools Settlement agreement, a notable exception is the St. Anne’s Residential School. The federal government continues to fight the survivors in court and refuses to release documentation that could substantiate their claims of physical and sexual abuse that up to a 1000 survivors experienced.
On June 3, 2021 NDP leader Jagmeet Singh ordered a motion calling for the government to end its litigation with survivors, including those of St. Anne’s. The vote on Singh’s motion was carried unanimously, 271 to zero. Liberal cabinet ministers — including Justice Minister David Lametti, Indigenous Services Canada Minister Marc Miller, and Bennett — and Trudeau abstained.
The federal government has reached settlement agreements with survivors of the following who had been excluded from the TRC Settlement Agreement:
- The Sixties Scoop
- Newfoundland and Labrador Residential Schools
- Indian Day Schools (as of Agreement-in-Principal on Dec. 18, 2018)
- Métis Nation of Saskatchewan (May 8, 2019) and
- Kivalliq Hall in Nunavut (April 16, 2019)
Current Status
Stalled
Call to Action
last updated
July 05, 2024
Latest Updates
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St. Anne’s IRS
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Settlements for Parties Excluded from the IRSSA
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