Inuit groups approve residential school deal

For Nick Arnatsiaq of Igloolik, the day of vindication crawled a few inches closer last week.

That’s when three regional Inuit associations — Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., Makivik Corp. and the Inuvialuit Regional Corp. — said yes to a final, once-and-for-all compensation agreement for aboriginal survivors of residential schools.

“I’ve been waiting 30-some-odd years. But now at least I know I will have something in my hand,” said Arnatsiaq, who suffered inside the grim confines of Turquetil Hall from 1955 to 1966.

Run by Oblate priests and Grey Nuns, Turquetil Hall served as a residence for the Sir Joseph Bernier School in Chesterfield Inlet, which many Inuit Roman Catholics attended in the 1950s and 1960s.

By the early 1990s, it became the most infamous residential school in the eastern Arctic, after dozens of former students, many of them prominent political leaders, disclosed that they suffered physical and sexual abuse at the hands of school staff.

“I think we all want to see this move forward as quickly as possible now,” said Peter Irniq, a former Chesterfield student who has also waited decades for vindication.

In 1987, when he served as MLA for Aivilik, Irniq stood up in the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories to call for a public inquiry into abuses at the Chesterfield Inlet school. But there was little response at the time.

Irniq actually attended three residential schools — Chesterfield Inlet from 1957 to 1963, Yellowknife in 1963-64, and Churchill in 1964-65.

But the Chesterfield Inlet institution, which took in between 300 and 400 Inuit, was only one of many residential schools in the Arctic. Some were run by the Anglican or Roman Catholic churches under contracts with the federal government, while others were run directly by federal workers.

Though the information is still flowing in, at least 4,000 Inuit in Nunavik, Nunavut and the western Arctic are likely eligible to receive payments under the settlement agreement. That number could rise after the agreement is completed and application forms for compensation are circulated throughout the Arctic.

The deal, which DIAND minister Jim Prentice confirmed April 25 in the House of Commons, provides for:

* a “common experience” payment for every aboriginal person who attended a residential school run by, or on behalf of, the federal government, comprising a lump sum of $10,000, plus $3,000 for each year of attendance;
* an “individual assessment” process to provide additional compensation to those who suffered severe physical or sexual abuse;
* more money for the Aboriginal Healing Fund;
* money to set up memorials to help people remember the history of residential schools;
* money to pay for a “truth and reconciliation” process that would bring people together in a public acknowledgement of what happened at aboriginal residential schools.

The long-awaited deal, worth about $1.9 billion, must now be approved by churches, the federal cabinet, and courts in nine provinces and territories.

Right now, no one knows if the federal government will approve early payments for elderly survivors aged 65 and older, some of whom are dying as they wait for compensation.

“We have so many elders dying and it really hurts me,” said Rosemarie Kuptana, a residential school survivor who works for the IRC’s legal department in Inuvik.

She said an Inuvialuit elder she knows died just last month while waiting for the settlement agreement to conclude. “He was so looking forward to getting his compensation,” Kuptana said.

So far, Jim Prentice has said only that the government is now looking at the issue of “interim payments.”

“The government will now immediately consider the settlement agreement and the interim payments and the timing of those payments, and I will keep the House informed,” he told the House of Commons on April 25.

Kuptana said she estimates that about 2,500 Inuvialuit may be eligible to receive payments. Inuvialuit attended a diverse range of residential schools, including Grolier Hall and Stringer Hall in Inuvik, and schools in such places as Aklavik, Yellowknife and Fort MacPherson.

In Nunavut, about 1,000 people have responded so far to a survey that Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. has been administering since last fall. An NTI official said they estimate that another 1,000 Nunavut beneficiaries may also be eligible for compensation.

In Nunavik, Jocelyn Barrett, a lawyer with the Makivik Corp., said between 350 and 400 Nunavimmiut have responded to Makivik’s survey of residential school survivors, but that many more may be eligible.

People from northern Quebec attended a well-known residential vocational school in Churchill, Manitoba, along with many other eastern Arctic residents who now live in Nunavut.

Makivik has also identified four hostels that were once attached to federal day schools in northern Quebec at Inukjuak, Kuujjuarapik, Kangiqsualujjuaq, and Kangirsuk.

Application forms for compensation are not available yet. That’s because the three regional associations are waiting for all other parties, including the federal government, to sign off on the settlement agreement.

Barrett said after that happens, notices will go out to provide information to people, and application forms will be distributed.

For Nick Arnatsiaq, the money is a welcome addition to the apology that Jane Stewart, then the minister of DIAND, made in 1998 on behalf of the government of Canada.

But it will never make up for the loss of a normal childhood.

“In all those 11 years, not once did one of those nuns ever say that they loved me,” Arnatsiaq said.