Backlash risks adding millions to cost of native residential school lawsuits (fwd)

[Phil Cash Cash]

Backlash risks adding millions to cost of native residential school
lawsuits
By SUE BAILEY
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2003/08/20/164984-cp.html

 OTTAWA (CP) - Outraged native leaders are threatening to derail
Ottawa's $1.7-billion plan to settle a crushing backlog of residential
school lawsuits.

 The growing backlash could end up costing Ottawa millions of dollars it
had hoped to save by keeping cases out of a sluggish court system. At
current rates, it's estimated the claims would drag on for 50 years and
run up legal bills of at least $2 billion - not including settlements.

 Fierce resistance from plaintiffs has delayed the process and forced
Ottawa to consider changes.

 The federal government's plan to speed settlements, announced last
December, was geared to resolve up to 18,000 cases out of court in
seven years. The government would cover 70 per cent of proven damages
for physical and sexual abuse, but only for those who sign away their
future right to sue for language and cultural losses.

 That's "a sham," said a spokesman for the Assembly of First Nations'
residential schools survivors group.

 It's also shameful, said Ted Quewezance.

 "The plan fails to address . . . many different kinds of harms suffered
by children in the institutions. The government should be ashamed of
itself."

 At a heated closed-door meeting recently in Ottawa, the assembly
demanded changes.

 "If they don't fly, we'll tell our people not to touch it," Quewezance
said of the faltering deal.

 Another option might be a class-action lawsuit, led by 19 law firms
across Canada, that would seek damages for up to 90,000 former
students, Quewezance said.

 The lawsuit, if certified this fall, would seek $12 billion from the
government for physical, sexual and cultural damages.

 Ottawa's fast-tracking plan would put cases before 32 adjudicators,
such as retired judges. Plaintiffs would have to collect 30 per cent of
any payout from the Catholic, Anglican, United or Presbyterian churches
that ran the schools for much of the last century. Ottawa would cover
the rest.

 Critics say the deal was crafted with little native input. They have
also assailed Ottawa's move to award damages using a points system that
some have called a "meat chart."

 It offers small amounts for less serious assaults, up to $100,000 or
more for the most brutal abuse.

 Government officials say the system merely reflects how damages are
typically assessed in civil litigation.

 Ottawa is trying to handle "a very difficult and emotional issue" as
quickly as possible, says Shawn Tupper, director general of the Office
of Indian Residential Schools Resolution.

 "We're having a debate," he conceded of testy exchanges reported at
last week's meeting with former students.

 Still, Tupper says adjudicators are being screened and hearings should
be underway by December - if plaintiffs take that route.

 "This process is not designed to deal with 100 per cent of the claims,"
he said in an interview. "We're taking what we're hearing seriously and
considering whether any movement can be made."

 Ottawa will spend $172-million over 10 years to help restore native
languages damaged in residential schools, Tupper added.

 Many plaintiffs claim they were punished, sometimes beaten, for
speaking their native tongue. Students lost fluency and were often
reluctant to later teach their children the ancient dialects.

 No Canadian judge has ever awarded damages for so-called cultural
losses, prompting Ottawa to fund language programs instead, Tupper
said.

 More than 12,000 former students have sued Ottawa and the four churches
that ran the government-owned schools, alleging physical, sexual and
cultural abuse. It's believed that many more lawsuits will be filed.