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	9 Judges Set to Formally Approve School Deal CBC News [Canada] February 13, 2007 http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2007/02/13/judges-deal.html Judges from across Canada will gather in Calgary next month for an unprecedented sitting to deal with the Indian residential schools settlement, CBC News has learned. The nine provincial and territorial superior court judges will be holding a special two-hour joint-session in Calgary on March 8. Sources have told CBC the goal is to issue formal approval orders for the settlement package. The nine courts have already provided written reasons that support the deal, which is designed to provide compensation to some 78,000 aboriginal people who attended the schools in the 20th century. The Calgary hearing will be unique, according to Dwight Newman, the associate dean of law at the University of Saskatchewan. "It seems very unusual," he said. "I've not heard of the courts doing something like this before." The residential schools settlement is supposed to end years of lawsuits launched against the government and the churches that ran the schools. Over the past 15 years, some 13,000 people have filed lawsuits alleging sexual and physical abuse. Some allege the schools, typically run by churches and supervised by the federal government, caused them to lose their language and culture. The compensation deal provides for payments for every student who went to the schools, plus more money for those who suffered physical and sexual abuse. There's also money for healing and remembrance programs. When all segments of the deal are added up, it could be worth $4 billion to $5 billion, according to documents filed in a Regina court last year. The federal government and various church groups are sharing compensation, though Ottawa will be paying almost the entire amount. Even after formal approval by the courts, compensation could be stalled for some time. The federal government is challenging the legal fees charged by one of the law firms involved — Regina-based Merchant Law Group.
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