Doug George-Kanentiio: Law firms smell big pay day for Indian school abuse

Friday, May 3, 2019  

I attended the April 29 session at Kanatakon in which Jeremy Bouchard, an attorney with the Gowling law firm in Ottawa, made his pitch to have former students of the "Indian Day Schools" at Kantakon, Kawehnoke and Snye sign forms regarding their negative experiences at those places.

As we know the teachers in those schools prior to the 1980's committed acts of violence against the children without consequences and caused demonstrable harm by condemning Mohawk culture, stripping children of their language and forcing them to adapt to a society in which all things Native were belittled and excluded. When a child in the classroom is told that their heritage is bad, their families savage, their ancestral beliefs pagan and devilish, that their parents and grandparents were ignorant while they are forced to witness the beating of their friends the end result is trauma, a dislike to learning, mental stress, low self esteem and the creation of a culture of violence and coercion.

This harm was deliberate and those who brought it about have escaped justice. Their legacy is one of fear, loathing and bitterness as deep and destructive as those children sent to the notorious residential schools or taken from the community and placed in non-Native homes as foster kids. Only recently has Canada acknowledged that compensation is due to the former students but the way in which this is determined remains unclear.

Stepping in are law firms who smell a very big pay day if they can sign up enough victims.

In the Sixties Scoop action many people from Akwesasne signed a form given to them by Wilson-Christen, a Toronto entity. A lawyer was sent to tell the former foster care children that they were assured of a fair compensation and that their experiences would be recorded and preserved and this would be done by December, 2018. Amounts of $90,000 for each victim was cited but after that session Wilson-Christen refused to return to Akwesasne. Without the knowledge or consent of the victims that firm agreed to reduce a proposed federal liability of $1.3 billion to $800,000,000 and that it was to receive a massive payout amounting to tens of millions from Canada.

The law firm Gowling WlG sent Jeremy Bouchard, an Anishnabe-Mohawk, attorney to makes it case to the Indian Day School students. Forms were distributed to the people but it was never made clear if those forms meant Gowling was being retained by the Mohawks in a formal lawyer-client contract.

Equally confusing was Gowling's issuing of a May 3rd deadline which was discounted by Bouchard but no clear explanation of why that date was set or when the forms were due.

A check of Gowling shows it is a multi-national firm with 1,400 legal personnel in 18 cities in many countries. It also shows Gowling represents Enbridge, that energy company which is center to the Standing Rock controversy and is now involved in a contract deal with the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne. Is there a conflict of interest? This has yet to be explained. I am concerned about our credibility as Mohawks for standing in defense of the natural world. If we contract with Gowling does this no effect our stance as aboriginal and ecological rights advocates?

Reminder! Today is the deadline to submit a statement of support or an objection form.

You can view received letters of support on our website at the link below, and access both documents to submit your own: https://t.co/Mzq6Vrx4Iy

— Indian Day School Class Action (Official) (@IndianDaySchool) May 3, 2019

When I summarized my experiences with the residential school and Sixties Scoop actions at the meeting and the failures of both those processes then made a recommendation to hire a Mohawk team to do the interviews and collect records Mr. Bouchard did not respond. Others made reference to the lack of records and how to substantiate the claims Bouchard said the law firm had its own methods for this but would not commit to having Mohawks come up with their own way to collect the information and to decide what amounts should be given to whom with an emphasis on elders. This was not something Bouchard was prepared to endorse.

Mr. Bouchard did say his partner was not there because his passport had expired but he should have known a passport is not needed to cross through Akwesasne and that the MCA could have easily escorted him to the meeting.

There were at least 200 Mohawks at the session and they listened carefully and politely to Bouchard. But still, the problem of missing records came up and how the claimants are expected to prove what they say. This is best left to the Mohawk people but Bouchard said his firm would decide that. He did assure the people that government lawyers would not be able to question the claimants when they filed their reports but the federal government does have the right to challenge those statements if the case goes to trial.

Bouchard did not respond to my question about his firm's ability to make a settlement without the Mohawk peoples approval. This goes back to the forms-is Gowling working for the former students as we assume? And if so, we must have the right to review and approve of any and all deals but this was not, and is not, clear. How is Gowling to be paid? How much? What exactly will it do for us? What is its hourly billing rate? Can we see its work plan?

I was emphatic that our people must be involved if we are clients. We have to design the way our people are interviewed, We have to help locate the records. We have to create a way to preserve our testimony. We have to be heard and not just by a group of lawyers.

I don't believe those concerns were met. What happens if we decide to hire another firm? Are we bound to Gowling? Can we make our own appeal for justice and compensation?

I know one thing-we must not cede our rights to be heard and to demand justice. Those concerns were not answered on April 29th and will hopefully be addressed when Gowling sends other lawyers sometime in June.

Doug George-Kanentiio, Akwesasne Mohawk, is the vice-president of the Hiawatha Institute for Indigenous Knowledge. He has served as a Trustee for the National Museum of the American Indian, is a former land claims negotiator for the Mohawk Nation and is the author of numerous books and articles about the Mohawk people. He may be reached via e-mail at: Kanentiio@aol.com or by calling 315-415-7288.