Native leaders in Canada are welcoming a billion-dollar settlement for sexual, physical and mental abuse suffered at government-sponsored residential schools.

Phil Fontaine, the chief of the Assembly of First Nations, is a survivor of residential school abuse. So is Ted Quewezance, a former chief of the Keeseekoose First Nation and the president of the National Residential School Survivors Society.

Both leaders said a settlement was long overdue.

Elders over the age of 65 and living in poverty will be able to apply for $8,000 in compensation before the deal is finalized. A total of 80,000 former students should be eligible for about $2 billion in payments.

Get the Story:
80,000 Native Canadians to Be Compensated for School Abuse (The New York Times 4/27)
pwnyt
Residential school deal welcomed by First Nations groups (CBC 4/26)

Residential School Abuse / Church Liability Decision:
Blackwater v. Plint (October 21, 2005)

Relevant Links:
Assembly of First Nations - http://www.afn.ca
Indian Residential Schools Resolution Department - http://www.irsr-rqpi.gc.ca/english

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