First Nations leaders want to rethink residential schools agreement
The Globe and Mail
Published Monday, May 09, 2016 9:06PM EDT
The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement is nearing its end after paying out billions in compensation, but indigenous leaders say there are so many gaps that left so many people uncompensated for their suffering that the deal must be reviewed, then rewritten or replaced.
The executive committee of the Assembly of First Nations will be asked at a meeting in Ottawa this week to consider what to do about the deal, which was struck nine years ago between former students, the government and the churches that ran the schools where abuse was rampant.
“Ideally you want all the parties to agree that we should review it. Or you can have AFN, as the founding party, to request it … but there definitely needs to be an assessment done,” said Bill Erasmus, the national chief of the Dene who also represents the Northwest Territories on the AFN executive and who is in charge of the residential schools file for the native organization.
“It’s time for a new agreement. We had practice on the first one. Let’s do another. Let’s tighten it up,” Mr. Erasmus told The Globe and Mail. “We know the ups and the downs and the outs and the ins. So we can say, ‘Hey, let’s do this right.’”
The agreement is the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history.
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