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	Native Judge to Head Residential-School Hearings Ontario Appeal Court Judge Hopes Truth and Reconciliation Commission Will Help Canada Come to Terms with Its Past By Bill Curry Globe and Mail April 29, 2008 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080429.NATIVES29/TPStory/National OTTAWA -- Harry LaForme, Canada's top aboriginal judge, sees similarities between Canada's Indian residential schools and South African apartheid. The Ontario Court of Appeal judge is taking on a five-year assignment from the Harper government to write the official history of the dormitory schools that housed native children - often by force - for more than a century. It is a monumental task for the 61-year-old member of the Mississaugas of New Credit, given that the schools operated in all corners of the country. Thousands of former students and school employees are long dead. Many key government and church records have been destroyed. Documents that survive are buried on hazy microfiche. Called a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the research and cross-country hearings will be modelled on a commission in South Africa chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu that explored that country's policy of separating blacks from whites. As Judge LaForme embarked yesterday on his assignment, he said he hopes to help Canada reach conclusions similar to those of the South African commission. "I believe that if the commission does its work reliably, being faithful to its objectives, we will better know ourselves as people and we will come out of the Indian residential-school experience enhanced and stronger," he said yesterday at a news conference announcing his appointment. "Then, to our children, to those individuals who were deeply part of the Indian residential-school experience, will be able to say, in the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu: 'We have looked the beast in the eye. We have come to terms with our horrendous past and it will no longer keep us hostage and looking at our past.' " Judge LaForme's appointment received high praise yesterday from Phil Fontaine, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, who has long campaigned for such a commission and is himself a victim of residential-school abuse. "We couldn't think of anyone better for this than Justice LaForme. We are so very proud of Justice LaForme. He's just an outstanding individual," Mr. Fontaine said. The National Inuit organization also gave its approval. The commission is part of the out-of-court settlement reached with former students of the schools in 2006. The first part of the agreement involved a "common experience payment" to former students based on the number of years they could prove they attended. To date, roughly 90,000 people have applied for the payments and $1.3-billion has been paid out. A second process will be set up for students to receive additional compensation for physical and sexual abuse. Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl said yesterday the purpose of the commission is not to find people criminally responsible. However, he urged former students with allegations of criminal activity to take them to the police, or to the commission, as soon as possible. He also said the delay in launching the commission was partly to allow Judge LaForme to wrap up his court duties. "The fact that we got the right person to be chair was essential," he said.
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