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	Millions in Aboriginal Compensation Buy Joy but Also Breed Fresh Trauma Canadian Press on Google News Febriary 4, 2008 http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jko58dlZZoLo1THgT5kRoUEAAbsg OTTAWA - Almost $1.2 billion in native residential school payments have been a joyful windfall for most former students, but they have also brought fresh trauma - especially for those still fighting related demons. Some front-line workers say Ottawa cut cheques averaging $28,000 without putting in place badly needed support. The money started flowing four months ago and is expected to top $2 billion when all basic compensation is paid out. Some claimants will receive much higher sums for the most serious cases of sexual and physical abuse. "A lot of people are saying they're glad they've got the money," said Ruby Manilla, an elders liaison worker at the Fort St. John Friendship Centre in northeastern B.C. "But a lot of them are also saying that it brings back a lot of memories for them. People would like to see something available when they start going through those memories. It's such a long healing process that nobody's really addressed." About 80,000 former students of the once mandatory live-in schools were eligible to apply for $10,000 for the first year they attended, plus $3,000 for each subsequent year. It's part of a massive settlement that includes a $60-million truth and reconciliation commission to hear stories about the impact of the now-defunct schools. Details on the commission are expected soon as it begins a five-year mandate. While many former students say they received a decent education and other benefits, Ottawa conceded 10 years ago that physical and sexual abuse was rampant in the church-run institutions. The settlement deal was struck to derail a national class-action lawsuit. Federal officials and the RCMP say the compensation story is, so far, a positive one overall. Gina Wilson, assistant deputy minister of Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada, points to reports of "grandparents taking their grandkids to Disneyland, renovating bathrooms, paying off bills, opening businesses. "More good things (are) happening," she said in an interview. But Wilson noted that federal staff are also starting to hear of some troubling circumstances " particularly around addictions." Such cases include four deaths in Fort Simpson, N.W.T. that the local chief linked to histories of alcoholism and the recent influx of cash. A fatal house fire in Swan River, Man. followed a party to celebrate the receipt of a $25,000 compensation cheque. And, Manilla says, there are less visible but widespread cases of people using their well-deserved money to "self-medicate" against a pain that won't go away. "The people that were already drinking or using some kind of substance to get through their life are still doing it," she said in an interview. "They just have more money to do it now. "They weren't drug (abusers) and alcoholics when they were in the schools. But all the things that happened to them while they were there caused them to be drug and alcohol dependent." "You can talk to all the counsellors you want. But unless you do a spiritual healing of the person, they're never complete." Manilla says a nationwide healing effort should be led by aboriginal elders. A federal health support program and crisis line being offered by Ottawa simply aren't a substitute, she said. Dean Brown, acting executive director of the Canadian Native Friendship Centre in Edmonton, agrees. "I don't see any help around, other than through the friendship centres and stuff like that. There's a government number they can call. But, of course, if they're going through the trauma the last place they're going to call is a government agency." What worries Brown most is what he isn't seeing: regular clients. "They disappear," he said. "So that's not a good sign. If they're not coming here, they're misbehaving. Because in order to come here you have to be sober that day." Wilson says the federal crisis line is receiving about 30 calls a day. Ottawa also spent $96 million for federal health support workers - a program that is being well used across the country, she said. Her office worked with native agencies and police for months to help prepare communities for the wave of compensation. "It was not our place to tell former students what to do with the money," she stressed. "Offsetting the negative impacts from the compensation was not solely a government responsibility but a collective effort. It took partnerships with others . . . but overall, I think the results have been very good." For Diana Blackman, 44, of Edmonton, the $10,000 she received for the year she attended the Lebret residential school near Fort Qu'Appelle, Sask. couldn't have come at a better time. "I'm able to get on my feet," she said. Blackman is also donating $500 of her money to the local Breakfast for Learning program to help provide hot, nutritious meals for kids who need them. She hopes the idea will catch on in native communities across Canada. Many people who lived in residential schools have especially bad memories of lumpy porridge and stingy meals, she said. "We could help our children and grandchildren have better experiences."
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