CANADA
CBC News
Last Updated Wed, 06 Jul 2005 10:24:21 EDT
Leaders of the Assembly of First Nations are advising that residential school abuse survivors accept a compensation package the group has negotiated with the federal government.
National Chief, Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine.
"This is a good deal,"Abuse Tracker Chief Phil Fontaine told the hundreds of aboriginal elders, chiefs and families from across the country who attended Tuesday's sessions in Yellowknife, N.W.T.
"If you believe that you can do better by going to the courts for a remedy, than you should do so," Fontaine added. "But we truly believe that this is the best option."
Starting in the 1870s, generations of aboriginal children were forced to leave their families to attend church-run, government-funded schools meant to prepare them for life in mainstream Canadian society.