CANADA
Anglican Journal
MARITES N. SISON
STAFF WRITER
Mississauga, Ont.
Two years after securing a residential schools agreement with the federal government that limits liability, the national church is signaling that it would like to reopen the agreement to allow claimants the opportunity to sue for loss of language and culture.
Under the current agreement – the first reached by a Canadian denomination with the government – former students whose claims are validated in an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process are compensated for physical and sexual abuse, but they must sign a full release preventing them from seeking further compensation from the government or the church.
Saying that he believes “the time has come to change our policy and accept a partial release” in resolving native residential school claims, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, secured the permission of Council of General Synod (CoGS) to determine whether this would be “acceptable” to dioceses.