Inukjuak students sue government, DIAND day school employees

MONTREAL — Citing losses, injuries, gross indignities and life-long trauma, 42 former students of the Port Harrison federal day school have launched a lawsuit not only against the federal government — but also against four former non-Inuit teachers and nine Inuit from Inukjuak who worked at the school.

The 42 students, most of whom still live in Inukjuak, all attended the Port Harrison federal day school and hostels between 1961 and 1969. “Port Harrison” is Inukjuak’s former English name.

In a “declaration” — or statement of claim — filed January 12 in Quebec Superior Court by lawyer Gilles Gagné , the plaintiffs ask that a sum of $5,040,000 be placed in a trust fund that would be used to pay for special psychological help needed to treat the damage they claim the federal government employees of the school inflicted upon them.

The 42 plaintiffs are also seeking $200,000 each. This part of the claim is based on a long list of “common” allegations, including:

* that they were uprooted from their homes and isolated from their families;
* that they were formally forbidden to speak Inuktitut and physically punished with rulers and yardsticks if they did;
* that they were forced to “dress like little white boys and white girls from southern Canada;”
* that they were forbidden to eat country food and forced to eat southern food that made them physically sick, and that they had to eat regurgitated food;
* that they were subjected to “foreign discipline,” a harsh and strict regime of cleanliness which included the painful application of a floor brush on their bare skin and the use of hard labour as punishment;
* that they were forced to lose traditional cultural skills.
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Fifteen of the former students are also claiming individual damages from $5,000 to $1 million each in compensation for specific instances of sexual, physical and verbal abuse they claim to have received at the hands of Inuit and non-Inuit employees of the school.

The declaration lists 29 specific allegations of abuse, including allegations that:

* Defendant R.D.R. Evans, an employee of the school, sexually abused a male plaintiff in a variety of ways more than 50 or 60 times between 1962 and 1964, repeatedly abused another plaintiff during the school year 1965-66, and and sexually abused a third male plaintiff 25-30 times;
* Defendants Betsy Kasudluak, Mary Amidlak, Mina Pauloosie all allowed their boy-friends to gain access to the student hostel where they raped, or attempted to rape, various female plaintiffs — one plaintiff cliams to have been raped six times in this manner;
* Defendant Abraham Kasudluak, who ran a federally funded foster home with his wife Betsy, attempted to rape a female plaintiff staying at his home;
* Defendant Daniel Nulukie, hired to transport a female plaintiff by dog-team from the camp where she lived, sexually abused the plaintiff while she was tightly strapped to a qamutik;
* Philipusie Napartuk, a janitor employed by DIAND, attempted to rape a female plaintiff (Napartuk is now deceased, but the plaintiff is making a claim against his estate);
* Defendant Elden Schorn hung a male plaintiff by his coat collar on a hook outside the school for three hours, as punishment for going ptarmigan hunting without permission.
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Other specific claims are based on allegations involving punching, slapping, hair-pulling, and verbal abuse on the part of both non-Inuit and Inuit staff.

Statements of claim or declarations filed in support of legal actions sometimes contain allegations that are unproven. Under Quebec civil law, defendants in this case have 30 days from the time they are served with the declaration to file statements of defence.

The declaration states that the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs failed in its fiduciary duty towards the students and did not prevent or put an end to what it calls “gruesome practices” that took place at the school and hostel in Port Harrison from 1961 to 1969.

During these years young Inuit aged five to 14 were taken from the camps surrounding the community to live at three hostels and attend the federal day school.

“For all plaintiffs, being lacking in so many ways essential to Inuit life, they were ridiculed and devalued by their peers and relatives,” says the declaration.

Lawyer Gilles Gagné said he never doubted the veracity of the former students’ claims and suspects that many haven’t even yet dredged up their worst memories.

“As they spoke, they started to tremble and shake. One even threw up,” Gagné said. “I was the first person he had told.”

Gagné said all former students named in the case have had difficulties in their relationships with their spouses and children, as well as problems with alcohol and drugs.

Over the past several years, the people of Inukjuak have been rocked by disclosures of widespread sexual abuse, incidents of violence in its schools, and a persistent problem with solvent sniffing among youth.

But Gagné said former students recently began to realize the impact of what happened in their childhood when they began about three years ago to share their school experiences, and only recently did they learn that they have the legal right to pursue damages.

Gagné expects it could take up to five years before the case goes to court.

Gagné said Makivik Corporation has agreed to pay the cost of seeking expert opinions from psychologists to prove damages claimed by the former students.

Gagné said is working “on contingency,” which means that he will be paid only if the plaintiffs win their case.