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	Residential School Settlement a Step Closer to Reality By Sarah Bissonette Parry Sound August 26, 2007 http://www.parrysound.com/press/1188159987/ Wasauksing - Former Indian Residential Students compensation from the federal government passed another hurdle last week, even though many aren't too pleased about it and just want to move on. "It's like, lets put an end to it...for some of them, it's better than nothing," said Marilyn Beaucage, Wasauksing First Nation home and community care coordinator. Last Monday, the time period in which former students of federal residential school programs could opt out of the agreement passed with 201 not wanting to settle, but the agreement, signed between the federal government and Assembly of First Nations in 2005 and approved by cabinet in May 2006, stipulated 5,000 withdrawals were needed to defeat it. The agreement now enters a 30-day appeal period. Indian residential schools for First Nations children between the ages of five and 16 were in operation in Canada before Confederation in 1867. From 1874 to 1969 the schools were funded by the federal government and run by church organizations. After the federal government took over responsibility for the operation of the schools in 1969, many were closed in the mid-1970s, but the last one wasn't shut down until 1996. In the federal government's 1998 Statement of Reconciliation, it acknowledges that the schools were operated during a time when, "attitudes of racial and cultural superiority led to a suppression of Aboriginal culture and values." The agreement includes a common experience payment of $10,000 for each residential school student, plus $3,000 for each of a former student's second and subsequent years in the system. It also includes funds for a truth and reconciliation commission, the establishment of a national archive and research centre, an Independent Assessment Process to settle claims of sexual and physical abuse and a Resolution Health Support Program. A group of Wasauksing residents gathered last week hoping to learn more.
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