Resolution No. 2010-09-03
Residential School
and Statistics in Territory
WHEREAS many members of the Mushkegowuk First Nations were compelled by the Canadian government to spend years as children or youth in residential schools away from their parents and families, as part of the government policy of removing children from their Aboriginal heritage; and
WHEREAS there remain many members of the Mushkegowuk First Nations who should be eligible for special compensation payments under the residential schools settlement plan; and
WHEREAS many of those members of our Nation are aging and are in their 60's and ?O's or older and may not be with us much longer; and
WHEREAS no-one has come to the Attawapiskat community and some other Mushkegowuk communities to carry out the individual assessments necessary for compensation, although this has been requested repeatedly; and
WHEREAS some Mushkegowuk First Nation members who have applied for compensation or who wish to apply for compensation have school records
missing for one or several years, and will be denied that compensation through no fault of their own; and
WHEREAS the present rules of the Independent Assessment Process require that a significant portion of the legal fees of applicants under the Independent Assessment Process are to be paid by the applicant, rather than being paid for by the compensation process, and this is unfair to the victims of the residential schools; and
WHEREAS a significant number of children and youth from the Mushkegowuk Territories were sexually victimized at the residential schools they attended, and it is important for the possibility of treatment and healing in Mushkegowuk Territories that our people have some idea of the magnitude of this abuse;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT
the Mamohitowin of the Omushkegowuk call on the administration of the residential schools settlement process to send assessment officials to Attawapiskat and other Mushkegowuk First Nation communities on an urgent basis to ensure that those entitled to compensation will receive it without delay; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT
the processes and rules of the compensation programme process be applied or amended (such as by allowing oral or affidavit verification) so that our First Nation members are not penalized by losing compensation for years of school attendance for which the schools do not have records; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT all legal fees of those Mushkegowuk First Nation members compensated under the Independent Assessment Process be covered by the compensation process so as to avoid unfairness; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT
Mushkegowuk Council and the Mushkegowuk First Nations be provided with statistics on the total number of individuals (without individual details or identification) who suffered sexual abuse in the five residential schools which our members attended.
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