{"id":3762,"date":"2020-10-28T12:06:33","date_gmt":"2020-10-28T17:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=3762"},"modified":"2020-10-28T12:10:51","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T17:10:51","slug":"the-conversation-indian-day-school-survivors-are-seeking-truth-and-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2020\/10\/28\/the-conversation-indian-day-school-survivors-are-seeking-truth-and-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"The Conversation: Indian day school survivors are seeking truth and justice"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\n\t\t\tClaims Process Open for Survivors of Federal Indian Day Schools\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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The Indian Day School Settlement Claims Process is now open for Survivors who suffered harms while attending Federal Indian Day Schools and Federal Day Schoo…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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\r\nFederal Indian Day School Settlement: Claims Process Open for Survivors of Federal Indian Day Schools<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n
Indian day school survivors are seeking truth and justice<\/div>\r\n
By Jackson Pind<\/a> (Queen’s University, Ontario<\/a>), Raymond Mason<\/a>, and Theodore Christou<\/a> (Queen’s University, Ontario<\/a>)<\/div>\r\n
The Conversation<\/div>\r\n
theconversation.com<\/A><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nIn January 2020, Canada began accepting claims<\/a> emerging from a billion-dollar settlement with survivors of the Indian day schools<\/a>. This landmark settlement has been embroiled by legal battles<\/a> as well as additional lawsuits<\/a>. In the meantime, survivors and the public have yet to learn how the $200 million, earmarked for education, healing and commemoration, will be used<\/a>.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nAn estimated 200,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend Indian day schools<\/a> that operated on First Nations reserves in every Canadian province from the mid-1800s until 2000. While the government of Canada funded the schools<\/a>, the daily operations were run by the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist churches and, later, the United Church of Canada<\/a>.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nWe have collaborated on a new historical biography, Spirit of the Grassroots People: Seeking Justice for Indigenous Survivors of Canada\u2019s Colonial Education System<\/em><\/a>. The perspectives we bring are as an Indian day school survivor and activist (Raymond), author of this book, a mixed settler-Anishinaabe historian (Jackson) and a white settler scholar of education (Theodore), the book\u2019s editors.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nAs historians of education, we believe that Canada must continue to come to grips with the full extent of its past. Schools and curricula are a part of this past, as well as the present and the future. They also laid the historical foundation of inequality for Indigenous students<\/a>.

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Attendance in Indian Day Schools vs Residential Schools in Ontario, 1871-1961. Source: Library and Archives Canada, Indian Affairs Annual Reports, 1864-1990\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n

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Forced attendance, abuse<\/div>\r\n\r\nSince the official submission date for claims opened in January 2020, survivors have been navigating the confusing and lengthy<\/a> written application of documenting their trauma and abuse.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nWhile the settlement covers the costs for survivors to file a claim with the designated legal counsel, only recently have survivors been able to hire their own lawyers, who they themselves must pay<\/a>. In June of this year, survivors also learned that they cannot change the level of claim they previously submitted<\/a>.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nSurvivors who submit an application are entitled to a minimum of $10,000<\/a> for \u201charms associated with attendance\u201d at one of the 699 recognized schools.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nThis does not include the approximately 700 Indian day schools that the federal government excluded from the settlement<\/a>. Former students who were physically or sexually abused could receive between $50,000 to $200,000 based on \u201cseverity of the abuses suffered.\u201d<\/a>

<\/P>\r\n\r\n\r\nThis federal settlement was reached after extensive advocacy work by survivors.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nSurvivor Garry McLean<\/a>, with Raymond, approached lawyers in 2016 after spending the previous seven years building a network of survivors and submitting a claim within the Manitoba court system<\/a>. After extensive negotiations with the federal government, there was an announcement of an agreement in principle on Parliament Hill in December 2018<\/a>. After additional negotiations, the final settlement worth $1.47 billion<\/a> was announced in August 2019<\/a>.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nSurvivors\u2019 work has opened up processes of legal acknowledgement of wrongdoing and thus made possible a form of justice and compensation. As of Sept. 30, 2020, the settlement had received 84,427 claims and paid 27,690 survivors with another 56,737 applications still under review<\/a>.

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APPLYING AS A REPRESENTATIVE \u2013 HELPFUL TIP: Are you applying for someone else? Make sure you complete page 13, sign as Claimant on page 5 and include all documents that authorize you to submit the Claim Form on his\/her behalf. For more helpful tips: https:\/\/t.co\/cga50TQi5n<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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National inquiry into day schools<\/div>\r\n\r\nIt has been over five years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) presented their findings in a report and in Calls to Action<\/a>. Since that time, ongoing injustices towards Indigenous people have led some to debate whether reconciliation is already dead<\/a>. Yet the truth that was uncovered through oral testimony and historical research as part of the TRC has provided valuable knowledge to those who are listening.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nNumerous departments in universities<\/a>, colleges<\/a> and public schools<\/a> have begun incorporating the history of Indian residential schools into their curricula.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nThis process of seeking the truth is unfortunately not happening for Indian day schools survivors, despite an estimated 2,000 individuals<\/a> who are passing away every year. It is time for a national inquiry into the history of Indian day schools and their ongoing legacy for the education of Indigenous students in Canada.

<\/P>\r\n\r\nHelen Raptis, who has studied the history of Indian day schools in British Columbia<\/a>, has argued that our understanding of Indigenous education \u201chas been hampered by historians\u2019 almost singular focus on residential schooling.\u201d This is despite the fact that more students attended an Indian day school than a residential school in Canada<\/a>.

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