Canadian government: Church is failing to pay promised settlements

February 19, 2014

The Canadian government is alleging that the 48 Canadian dioceses and religious orders that were a party to the 2006 Indian Residential Schools Settlement have collectively failed to abide by the terms of the $1.9-billion agreement.

From 1884 to 1948, Canadian law compelled Native Americans to send their children away from home to residential schools, the majority of which were Catholic or Anglican institutions. The last residential school closed in 1996.

The government alleges that the Catholic entities, by classifying legal fees as administrative expenses, are improperly denying millions of dollars to the former students of the schools, according to a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation report.

“The federal government has always adopted an aggressive attitude towards the Catholic entities, and we have offered reconciliation process to them and they firmly answered negatively, they don’t want to apply the agreement as negotiated in 2006, so we are going to present our arguments to the courts,” an attorney for the Catholic entities said.

 

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Further information:

• Catholic Church withholding millions from victims, alleges government (CBC News)
• Indian Residential Schools Settlement
• Quebec: victims discuss abuse at Indian residential schools (CWN, 2/8/13)