Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Providence (Jun 23/00) - A society that helps former residential and mission school students has received a financial boost.

The Fort Providence Residential School Society has been awarded a $250,000 grant through the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.

The money will be used to hire a co-ordinator and field worker for the society, and to offer a series of healing workshops to former students of Sacred Heart residential school.

"The main objective of the society is to help the former students of the mission schools and residential schools in Fort Providence with their healing journeys," said society spokesperson Allyn Rohatyn, adding the program is open to former students living anywhere in the Deh Cho.

"We're not going to refuse anyone if they're at the point in their recovery that they want to resolve any issues they may have."

Joachim Bonnetrouge, Nick Sibbeston and Margaret Leishman, who were instrumental in forming the society three years ago, have alleged that many types of abuse occurred in the school while they were students.

They added their experiences have deprived them of quality of life, and they formed the motto, "All I want is to be happy."

There's been no mention of seeking financial compensation for victims of abuse at the school, said Rohatyn.

"We're not implicating any form of legal action or anything like that through our society. That is an individual choice. We're not going to be involved at that level," he said.

Smaller-scale workshops

The society's field worker will be visiting Deh Cho communities to identify former students and inform them about the society. There are already 50 to 70 individuals who have already expressed interest in becoming involved in the program, according to Rohatyn.

"Some of them have already gone through the process of dealing with their addiction through treatment centre programs and have identified deeper-seeded issues such as the residential school issue," he said.

"I've been getting requests from some of the people in the communities to have smaller scale workshops in each of the communities."

It's hoped the field worker position and the co-ordinator position will be filled by early July, he said. The funding is for a one-year pilot project with the potential for a two-year extension.

The first planning session held since the funding was secured -- through a proposal called Restoring Balance -- was held in Fort Providence on June 5-7. Former students from various communities attended, along with two elders, Rohatyn said.

The next planning session will likely be held in either Fort Simpson or Jean Marie River within the next month, he added.