There’s time for NTI to undo the damage

What were they thinking?

After just six weeks of well-intentioned bungling, officials at Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., and possibly other organizations, have not only managed to confuse and alienate the Inuit residential school survivors they say they want to help; they’re also well on their way to turning potential allies into enemies.

There’s still time, however, for the Inuit organizations to undo the damage they’ve done to their credibility. That, however, will require some humility.

It all started on or about May 30. That’s when the Government of Canada signed an accord with the Assembly of First Nations on a new way to resolve, once and for all, the numerous compensation claims made by aboriginal people who suffered for decades inside Canada’s infamous residential school system. A respected former Supreme Court of Canada judge, Frank Iacobucci, who represents the federal government, is to propose an all-encompassing package settlement by March 31, 2006.

All this took Canada’s Inuit organizations by surprise. Until this summer, they pretty much ignored the countless horror stories told over the past two decades by Inuit survivors of federal school residences and hostels run either by the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches or by secular workers. For example, survivors of the notorious Catholic-run residence in Chesterfield Inlet, Turquetil Hall, having fought for redress since 1987, will tell you that NTI was never there for them when they most needed NTI’s support.

But as if by magic, NTI, the Inuvialuit Regional Council, and the Makivik Corp. suddenly took notice. They reacted to the May 30 accord by filing lawsuits alleging abuses at residential schools that those same organizations, until now, have rarely been willing to acknowledge. And with all the puffed-up indignation they can muster, they also complain that Inuit were excluded from the process.

“I was surprised the Government of Canada did not include Inuit in this process from the beginning. Inuit deserve equal treatment,” NTI president Paul Kaludjak said in the press release announcing its lawsuit.

Surprised? It doesn’t take a genius-level IQ to figure out why Canada’s Inuit organizations didn’t get a seat at the table when the May 30 accord was signed.

It’s because they never asked for one. The evidence shows they’ve dodged the issue for years. They ignored the lawsuits that their own beneficiaries have been filing since at least 1998. They ignored the negotiation process that led up to the May 30 accord. And they ignored the numerous class action lawsuits that in the late 1990s, lawyers began to file on behalf of large groups of aboriginal clients — which now include Inuit.

The most important of these, the Baxter national class action, was filed in 2004 on behalf of all aboriginal persons in Canada who attended a residential school between 1920 and 1996. It’s backed by a consortium of 21 law firms from across the country, and is expected to be certified in Ontario Superior Court by the end of 2006. (“Certification” means a judge gives permission for the proposed “class” to be accepted in court.)

This proposed class — “all aboriginal persons” — includes Inuit. “Inuit” therefore, were not left out of the process. It’s Inuit organizations who were left out, and for that they have only themselves to blame.

You would think, then, that officials with NTI, Makivik, the IRC, and ITK would be thankful to those who did their job for them for so many years. After all, it’s the Assembly of First Nations’ diligent work, coupled with a growing number of class action lawsuits that finally pressed Ottawa into signing the May 30 accord.

Instead, NTI and its sibling organizations responded in a manner that patronizes their residential school beneficiaries and dismisses the important work done by the trial lawyers who have represented them for years.

But had they considered their response more carefully, they would have followed the example set by the AFN, who filed their own lawsuit last August to get a seat at the table, and at the same time praised the work of class action lawyers who make up the national consortium. And unlike the Inuit organizations, the AFN provides complete information to its members, such as contact information for class action lawyers.

In spite of all this, it’s still a good thing that NTI, Makivik, and the IRC filed their recent lawsuits. Late though they may be, these organizations have now become part of a process that promises to settle the claims of Inuit residential school survivors more quickly than long, drawn-out court battles would. They also promise to work for a settlement under which no beneficiary will pay legal fees.

And they can easily fix the bad will they’ve created. First, they should apologize to Inuit residential school survivors for ignoring their needs for so many years, and for the confusion they’ve recently caused them. Second, they should start showing some respect to those whose hard work made it possible for them to even be at the table. JB