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Residential school settlement OK'd

CanWest News Service
Published: 1:09 am

REGINA - The deadline for native people to sign up for a
multibillion-dollar national settlement came and went on Monday, with the
critical number of people agreeing to take the money.

If 5,000 had refused the settlement, Ottawa would have had the right to
scrap the deal.

But few declined, meaning an aboriginal who was forced to be away from his
or her family while attending a residential school will get an average
$27,000.

The minimum payment is $10,000, plus $3,000 for each year he or she spent
in a residential school.

The federal government forced generations of native children to attend
residential schools run by six Christian denominations. Stories of
dislocation as well as physical and sexual abuse are typical of their
experiences. The policy continued up to the 1960s.

Under the settlement, victims of the worst physical or sexual abuse can get
up to $250,000 and up to another $250,000 if it cost them lost income over
the years.

Those who opted out of the settlement process will not receive any money
through the common-experience payment option or through the independent
assessment process.

However, they retain the right to sue the government or churches on their
own.

An estimated 80,000 survivors are still alive.