RCMP investigating residential schools

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Indian Affairs is assisting the RCMP in an investigation of alleged abuse at Native residential schools.

The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development has released documents on 35 cases of possible abuse at Native residential schools to the RCMP.

The cases, which cover a period of time between 1946 and 1973, range from charges of poor nutritional standards to harsh punishments. In eight cases, the allegations involve the loss of life.

It was important to turn the files over to the RCMP for further investigation as some of the information may be the basis for criminal prosecution, Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon said.

DIAND recently completed a review of about 2,200 departmental files on the residential school system.

Although the matter is under investigation, RCMP in Ottawa would not comment on the files. There is no indication of how long their investigation will last.

The files were also released to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Siddon said.

"The (commission) has made the issue of Indian residential schools an important priority and has indicated that it will ask to see DIAND files as part of its major research study," he said.

Although there are federal laws prohibiting the release of some government information, DIAND did the review of its files on residential schools to assist the commission's study as much as possible, Siddon said.

Under the Privacy Act, however, the names of the individuals, schools and locations in the commission's copy of the files have been removed.

Indian affairs is also reviewing files in the National Archives in search of additional information on abuse for the RCMP investigation.

The schools, which were mostly run by Anglican and Roman Catholic churches, operated for more than a century.

Several church organizations, including the United Church of Canada and the Oblate Conference of Canada, have apologized to Natives in recent years for their involvement in the residential school system.

There are still seven schools operating in the country. All of them are in Saskatchewan.