Dorothy Westerman
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 04/05) - Former residential school students who suffered abuse at the hands of their educators are getting information about options available to them for settling their claims for compensation.

Irene Fraser, a representative from Resolution Canada in Edmonton, met with the legislature's social programs committee in Yellowknife recently to outline the dispute resolution option.

One of the more recent options, dispute resolution, is a voluntary, out-of-court process that involves consultation with churches, government, former students and legal counsel, she explained.

"The idea is that all the parties will come together. An adjudicator independent from government will hear the story of the former student and base compensation on a framework that has been developed.

"From that, the adjudicator will make a decision as to an award for that former student."

Fraser said one of the advantages is that the government will "fast track" people through the system to settle claims in a timely way.

"Those critically ill or 70 years of age or older will be able to settle their claims fairly quickly," she said.

Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya invited Fraser to come to Yellowknife.

Yakeleya said there were more than 10,000 residential school students from the NWT, but today that number may have declined to 5,000.

He hopes the Territories will have an office to deal with issues related to the claims.

Fraser also spoke in Fort Smith and Deline during her week-long visit.

She also has an invitation to visit Paulatuk and may travel to Aklavik as well, she said.