May 08, 2006

School abuse deal includes $80M for lawyers

CANADA
CBC News

Last Updated Mon, 08 May 2006 07:23:21 EDT
CBC News
Lawyers who have been representing residential school abuse survivors are expected to get the biggest payment ever recorded for a Canadian class action case.

Former NWT premier Stephen Kakfwi isn't happy that lawyers are making so much from the residential school deal. (CBC)

A draft copy of the final residential school agreement shows that the federal government will pay $40 million each to a Regina law firm and a national consortium of lawyers.

The legal fee payout is expected to be higher because more than a dozen other lawyers are involved who are not part of the class action lawsuits.

The aging survivors of the residential school system will get an average of $30,000, the draft copy shows.

About 78,000 aboriginal people are estimated to have attended residential schools, most of them church-run, until the system was dismantled in the 1970s. Many have spoken out about the physical, sexual and emotional abuse they suffered after being removed from their families at a young age.

Posted by kshaw at May 8, 2006 07:20 AM