Jess McDiarmid
Northern News Services
Published Friday, January 25, 2008

YELLOWKNIFE - The arrival of residential school payments hasn't sparked a "big spike" in the Yellowknife RCMP's workload, said Staff Sgt. Mike Brandford, though officers have noticed there's extra cash around.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Mike Brandford said there hasn't been an influx of problems with the arrival of residential school payments but police have noticed there's money around. - Jess McDiarmid/NNSL

Recently, officers encountered a homeless man with a $10,000 cheque in his pocket who said no one would cash it for him, Brandford told city councillors during a monthly RCMP update on Monday.

The officers took the man to the bank and helped him open an account.

"We had spoken to a fellow, he had this cheque and they wouldn't cash it for him so our members took him in there to open up a bank account and put it in a safe place," said Sgt. Vic Steinhammer. "We find somebody who has a problem, we try to solve the problem. That's essentially what it was."

Residential school payments are available to eligible former students, who get an initial payout of $10,000, plus $3,000 for each year they were in a residential school.

The federal government allotted $1.9 billion plus interest to make lump sum payments to survivors of residential schools under the Common Experience Payments program, which releases the government and churches of any further liability relating to residential school experiences with the exception of sexual abuse and serious physical abuse.

As of Jan. 21, more than 87,000 applications had been received nationally, with nearly 52,000 payments issued.

Across the territories, payments were expected to average about $28,000 per person, with an estimated 6,000 people eligible for a total of $170 million in compensation.

Steinhammer said the lack of problems police have encountered might be "a little surprising, but good news either way."

Coun. Lydia Bardak told council she was concerned people without bank accounts may take their payments to cheque cashing stores and be walking around with large sums of money.

Bardak, who is also a chair of the Yellowknife Homelessness Coalition and works with the John Howard Society, said the extra money has been noticed since it started filling pockets before Christmas.

In an interview following the meeting, she said she has heard of brothers fighting over who would get to apply for their deceased father's payment as well as others who have lost all their money.

"We would have wanted to see healing, not further fighting because of this money," said Bardak.

She said some people have never had a large sum of money before and don't know how to manage it. Some don't have bank accounts or the government identification necessary to open one, so there's nowhere safe for them to put the money. And getting identification costs money that some just can't access.

"I've been approached and asked if I would co-sign on bank accounts," said Bardak.

But that potentially could expose the co-signer to allegations of manipulation or ripping someone off. So while she'd like to help, she can't, said Bardak.

Claimants should have had the option to receive their payments as a monthly pension, said Bardak, and more help in managing the money should have been made available. Bardak said many people are putting their money to good use, but others lack the skills, resources and sometimes, the mental health, to do that. She said she ran into a fellow recently who proudly showed off bulges in his pockets, which she suspected was crack cocaine.

"Imagine somebody on crack getting $30,000. That's insane," said Bardak, who calls the government's handout without any support to manage it "irresponsible" and points to deaths throughout the territory that have been related to residential school payments.

In Fort Simpson, the Liidlii Kue First Nation worries four deaths between Dec. 20 and Jan. 17, believed to be related to alcohol abuse, were financed by the influx of cash.

"I just really worry about the ones who are really suffering, who are not well," said Bardak. "I know that sounds really paternalistic. But I really care about some of these people."

She said it's important the survivors of residential schools come together to talk about their experiences and that their children are also taught what their parents went through to understand why some are so troubled.

"More people being more aware and talking and understanding will probably do better things than any money ever could."