On August 2, 2018, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the merchant law group`s (MLG) appeal to withhold $21,310.83 in compensation from a residential school survivor for “unpaid legal bills.” [38] The January 2014 survivor`s $93,000 compensation for the IRSSA Independent Assessment Process (IAP) is protected by the 2006 British Columbia Supreme Court, the irssa and the Financial Administration Act. Under the Act, lawyers are “expressly prohibited from awarding a portion of the IAP compensation” “because IAP claimants were considered particularly vulnerable.” [38] MLG has represented the client and her son since 2000. Dan Ish, after leaving his position as IAP`s chief juror, described the difficulties with private lawyers who would illegally enjoy IRSSA benefits. They investigated Winnipeg lawyer Howard Tennenhouse, Calgary lawyer David Blott, Vancouver lawyer Stephen Bronstein, and many other lawyers. Ish “personally reported Tennenhouse to the Law Society of Manitoba, which eventually expelled the experienced lawyer and reimbursed the client nearly a million dollars. A Vancouver judge barred Blott and others he worked with from working more in the IAP after plaintiffs complained that they had been wrongly charged loans, fees, penalties and interest – something prohibited by the IAP. And just last month, the IRSAS called for an investigation into Bronstein, but merely “examined” his practice and alleged association with a pardoned murderer who was doing IAP recording work. [27] In 2012, the Law Society of Manitoba excluded Tennenhouse for life. He pleaded guilty and agreed to reimburse the “$950,000 in additional costs” he charged 55 former residential school students. [28] [29] In 2014, when the Law Society of Alberta excluded Calgary lawyer David Blott “from misconduct in his management of settlements for survivors of residential school abuse,” Blott resigned. [14] “The investigation into Blott`s action cost taxpayers $3.5 million.” [27] Ivon Johnny, a convicted murderer, was stripped of his probation in January 2013 after “allegations that he threatened and blackmailed.” significant amounts of money from vulnerable and, in some cases, cognitively impaired applicants [FSRI]. In February 2013, B.C Supreme Court Justice Brenda Brown ordered that Bronstein be questioned by a court observer about his alleged relationship with Johnny.
[30] The parties to the settlement will continue to work together to implement the settlement after the 60-day appeal period expires. An important aspect of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement was the emphasis on recognizing the impact of residential schools and honouring the experiences of former students and their families and communities. To this end, a $20 million fund for commemorative projects was established in the Settlement Agreement. This process involved the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which would review and recommend the proposals, and Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC), which would allocate the funds (see Federal Departments of Indigenous and Northern Affairs). In 2011, for example, the TRC recommended 72 proposals (three of which were subsequently withdrawn), and the last 69 projects received a total of $8.5 million from the AANDC. In November 1996, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (VCAP) released its final 4,000-page report containing 440 recommendations. Residential schools have been the subject of a chapter. [2] In 1998, in response to the VCAP`s Aboriginal Action Plan, the Aboriginal Action Plan,[9]:3 the federal government of Canada unveiled a “long-term and large-scale policy approach in response to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, which included the “Declaration of Reconciliation: Learning from the Past”, in which the “Government of Canada recognizes and apologizes to those who have been victims of physical and sexual abuse in residential schools, and their role in the development and management of residential schools. [10] In January 2015, the Office of the Attorney General of Canada filed a lawsuit against Tony Merchant`s Regina, Saskatchewan, in the Saskatchewan Court of Queen`s Bench in Regina, Saskatchewan, on behalf of the Canadian federal government.
In May 2006, the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) was approved. One of the key elements of this agreement was the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The IRSSA provided $960 million for the Independent Assessment Process (IAP), “a settlement fund for claims of sexual abuse, serious physical abuse and other illegal acts” to the irS, which “provides money to those who have suffered serious physical and/or sexual abuse at an Indian residential school. The maximum payment is $275,000, but an additional $250,000 may be awarded for claims for actual loss of income. [19] As of December 31, 2012, a total of more than $1.7 billion had been spent under the IAP. Approximately three times as many applications were received than expected, and the IAP is expected to continue hearings until approximately 2017. In 2011, there were already 29,000 applications, twice as many as the 12,500 initially estimated by the irSSA, and this number is expected to increase further. Violent abuse is “widespread, not isolated.” According to Dan Ish, Chief Juror of the Indian Residential Schools Adjudication Secretariat for the IAP, he estimated in 2012 that IAP claims would be between two and three billion dollars higher than expected. [20] On November 23, 2005, the Canadian federal government announced the IRSSA`s compensation plan.
[2] This is the largest class action lawsuit in Canadian history. On June 11, 2008, Prime Minister Harper apologized “on behalf of the Government of Canada and all Canadians for forcibly removing Aboriginal children from their homes and communities to attend residential schools. In this historic apology, the Prime Minister realized that there is no place in Canada for the attitude that the residential school system has created. [16] “For the most part, the boarding school system was deeply negative and had a lasting impact on children, their families and their culture.” The IRSSA explained that the fifty Catholic groups that ran the residential schools — the “Catholic units” — had to pay $79 million for survivor abuse. .