Hope remains that day scholars will get compensation

The push to obtain common experience payments and Independent Assessment Process payments for Aboriginal day scholars is rolling ahead.

“It’s a matter of initiating a campaign and then I think a lot of people will sign on. The campaign will gain momentum, it will gain a profile. It’s pretty much replicating what happened with the residential school initiative itself,” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC).

Tk’emlups Indian Band was planning to host a day scholars and survivors meeting on Feb. 25 (after press deadline). It would be the second such meeting in as many months. Legal counsel, who are experts in class action lawsuits, were to be in attendance to discuss what comes next. Among those next steps is whether the campaign for the inclusion of day scholars should move from a regional initiative to a national campaign. It is presently centred in British Columbia, although names of day scholars are being gathered from other parts of the country.

The ground work has already been set for the campaign to go national. In 2010, the Assembly of First Nations passed a resolution at its annual general assembly directing the AFN to coordinate a political action plan on behalf of day scholars and for the AFN to engage the Canadian government in a reconciliation and compensation package for day scholars. Barring that, the AFN was directed to seek support for a class action suit.
The resolution was put forward by Tk’emlups Chief Shane Gottfriedson and Splatsin Chief Wayne Christian, both from BC First Nations.

Phillip noted that the UBCIC also has a resolution supporting action be taken on behalf of day scholars.
Phillip believes that the apology issued by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in June 2008 “contemplates complete inclusivity of all students who suffered as a result of the residential school experience, including day school scholars.”

Phillip thinks day schools were left off the list for compensation because of an oversight.

“I think the task of organizing this initiative (Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement) was pretty overwhelming and all in all, (day scholars) were simply overlooked.”

Phillip believes that day scholars suffered the same degree of abuse as their residential school counterparts.
“There was a lot of abuse in the classroom and in the school itself that will reveal itself as we bring this matter forward,” said Phillip.

Day school students who were abused are only eligible for compensation through the settlement agreement if they were abused while attending an Indian residential school.

Exclusion of day scholars from the settlement is also a concern raised by Truth and Reconciliation Commission Chair Justice Murray Sinclair.

“The issue of day scholar exclusion and exclusion of certain schools from the settlement agreement or from the class action litigation still remains to be discussed… I’m not sure it makes any sense for us to be looking at the possibility there may be another class action lawsuit, there may be another settlement agreement and there may be another truth and reconciliation process in the future,” Sinclair told a room full of former day scholars and residential school students in December 2010 in Gatineau.

The residential school settlement agreement was signed in May 2006 between Canada, representatives from the Catholic Entities, Anglican, United and Presbyterian churches, representatives for the students, Assembly of First Nations and Inuit representatives.

Sinclair said that not including day scholars in the settlement agreement left out a “large segment of the Aboriginal population.”

The issue of inclusion of day scholars has been brewing for a few years, said Phillips.