Andrew Raven
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 25/05) - Ottawa unveiled a $1.9 billion compensation package Wednesday for former residential school students that could see individual settlements approach $30,000.

"I think this is really profound," said Bill Erasmus, Northwest Territories regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations. "It will strengthen the ties between (aboriginals) and Canada."

The deal, which has been discussed for several months, includes a $10,000 payment to former students plus $3,000 for each year they attended a residential school.

Justice minister Irwin Colter, who spoke at a press conference in Ottawa with Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan, called the agreement "a just and lasting resolution to the Indian residential school legacy."

About 130 schools operated in Canada from the time of confederation until 1996, though most were closed by the mid-1970s. In the Northwest Territories, the institutions popped up in bigger centres like Yellowknife, Fort Smith, Inuvik and Fort Providence.

The Roman Catholic and Anglican churches ran most of the schools for the federal government. Some school supervisors were infamous for their sometimes-brutal treatment of students.

Some schools - like Grollier Hall in Inuvik - were also hotbeds of physical and sexual abuse.

"When trauma of this sort happens to people, it affects their behaviour in profound ways," said Erasmus.

In addition to the direct payments, the deal - which is for now an agreement in principle - includes:

• $125 million for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, which supports programs designed to help former students;
• $8,000 in advance for those over 65;
• an improved plan to deal with claims of sexual and physical abuse;
• $60 million for public education and to provide a venue for former students to share their stories; and
• $10 million to events and memorials that commemorate the schools.

The federal government estimates there are 80,000 former students alive today. There were more than 14,000 claims before the government and courts, about 2,800 of which have been resolved.

This new deal is expected to ease the backlog of lawsuits and cut through layers of bureaucratic red tape.

The agreement has some critics, however, including Dene National Chief Noeline Villebrun, a former residential school student.

"The Japanese were awarded a base figure of $20,000 for their internment during the Second World War," Villebrun said in a media release. "Does this mean our lives are worth less?"

The compensation package "is not very much" considering the damage residential schools did to Dene culture and languages like Gwich'in and North Slavey, Villebrun said.

"At the end of the day, each residential school survivor will make up their own mind," Villebrun said.

Erasmus said there was no immediate timeline for the when the payouts would start, but he hoped the process would start moving by January.

Anyone interested in the settlement - which does not stop victims of physical and sexual abuse from suing the government in court - can contact the AFN regional headquarters in Yellowknife or their local band office, Erasmus said.

The deal came a day before first ministers met in Kelowna, B.C., to discuss aboriginal issues including health care and housing.