Residential school survivors eligible for education credit

Inuit children from the western Arctic gather outside a residential school in this undated file photo. Former students who have received the Common Experience Payment are now eligible for a personal education credit. (FLEMMING/NWT ARCHIVES: N-1979-050-0101)

Former residential school students who have received the Common Experience Payment are now eligible for a new education credit.

The one-time Personal Education Credit is worth $3,000 and can be applied to an education institution of the student’s choice.

The credit program is a provision of the Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and other Aboriginal organizations negotiated with the federal government to have funds leftover from the Common Experience Payment fund — available to anyone who attended residential school — used for educational purposes.

The credit was finally approved and implemented Jan. 1, NTI said in a Jan. 13 news release.

NTI has hired two staff members to help Nunavummiut apply to the program. The organization estimates that there are 2,600 Nunavut Inuit eligible for the education credit, including Inuit who live outside Nunavut.

The credit can be applied toward costs such as tuition, fees, transportation and accommodation costs, meals, books, computer equipment, program supplies.

And the credits can be redeemed at a number of centres, including post-secondary institutions, technical institutes, elementary and secondary schools in Nunavut and early childhood and daycare programs.

The credits can also be used for community-based organizations and centres that provide Inuit cultural, language and history programs.

The credit can be shared; applicants may choose to use the credit partially and transfer the remainder or the entire credit to a maximum of two family members.

Applicants can also decide to pool their credits with other applicants to pay for a group educational or cultural service.

Nunavummiut who are eligible for the credit should have received a form in the mail this month sent by Crawford Class Actions Services, which administers the credit in Nunavut.

Nunavummiut have until Oct. 31 to fill out the form, and until Dec. 1 to redeem the credit.

Contact NTI for more information about the credit at (867) 975-4900 or visit the organization’s website at www.tunngavik.com.