Abuse in the schools more widespread than first thought

Akivah Starkman, executive director of the Indian Residential School Adjudication Secretariat, said the group is expecting to receive close to 30,000 applications by the time the Independent Assessment Process deadline passes Sept. 19, which will well exceed the first estimates of 12,500.

“I think that it appears, based on the numbers, that the incidents of abuse may have been more widespread than initially anticipated,” Starkman said.

As of mid-July, close to 28,000 claims had been received under IAP, said Starkman, with more than 16,000 claims dealt with and more than $1.5 billion in compensation paid out. The average amount of compensation is $117,000, which includes legal costs.

“The vast majority of people who do file an application with this process do end up receiving compensation,” Starkman said.

The growth in the number of claimants, he says, is from more schools being added to the original eligible list, awareness being raised through events undertaken by both the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the IRSSA, and projections having being made based on similar experiences in other countries.

The Common Experience Payment was paid to students who attended a designated residential school. The average payment was close to $21,000. Of the anticipated 80,000 surviving residential school students, 78,000 filed for CEP.

Residential school survivors who are still awaiting court decisions on whether their schools qualify for federal compensation may have some leeway even though the deadline for applications for the Independent Assessment Process and the Common Experience Payment are later this month.

“If the court decided to add a school recognized under Article 12, we would expect that the court would give direction to Canada on how that would be handled following the deadline,” said Joan Katz, director, Resolution East, Settlement Agreement Operations, Resolution and Individual Affairs Sector, with Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Canada.

While Sept. 19 is the deadline for IAP applications, it is also the extended deadline for CEP applications, if former students were unable to submit their applications due to disability, undue hardship or exceptional circumstances. Otherwise the CEP application deadline closed Sept. 19, 2011.

Under Article 12 of the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement, students can apply to add schools to the approved prescribed list of residential schools.

Schools need to meet a two-part criterion in order to be included: the child was taken away under the authority of the federal government to attend a residential school and the federal government was jointly or wholly responsible for the operation of the residential school.

The application to add the school is assessed by the federal government and if unsuccessful may be brought before the court.

“We have a number of cases before the court right now,” said Katz.

As of July 12, Canada had added just six new schools to the approved list and those only for a specified period of operation. The court added an additional two schools, also for a specified period of operation, bringing the number of recognized institutions to 138.

A decision by Canada is pending on three other schools. More than 1,500 schools have been suggested for the approved list. Many were turned down because they were day schools or operated solely by the province, territory, church or private organization. A handful was already included in the IRSSA.

IAP payments are made to those who suffered sexual, serious physical or emotional abuse while attending a designated residential school. Former students must make an appearance in front of a quasi-tribunal which is “claimant-centred,” said “By that we mean … it’s an adjudication process that is fair and neutral for all the parties.”