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	Payout to B.C. First Nations Claimants on Residential Schools $227 Million So Far By Kim Pemberton Vancouver Sun November 29, 2011 www.vancouversun.com/news/Payout+first+nations+claimants+residential+schools+million/5780537/story.html A total of $227.6 million compensation has been paid to 1,669 B.C. first nations residential-school abuse claimants out of the 3,200 who had applied up until the end of September. When the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement was signed in 2006, the budget for compensation of former students who were abused was $960 million. To date $1.1 billion has been spent across the country, under the Independent Assessment Process (IAP) set up by the agreement. Across Canada 21,074 people have made IAP applications, and 29,000 people are expected to apply before the deadline of Sept. 19, 2012 — more than double the number originally anticipated. That means the total payout to survivors of physical or sexual abuse at residential schools is likely to hit $2.6 billion, IAP chief adjudicator Daniel Ish said last week. Chief Robert Joseph, from B.C.'s Indian Residential School Survivors Society, said Monday he expects the final number of claimants from this province could increase as the deadline nears. Joseph said the organization, set up 15 years ago to help residential school survivors, had so far helped about 5,000 British Columbians, but not all of them would have been physically or sexually abused and therefore eligible to make an IAP claim. Those who were not abused can still apply for the Common Experience Payment, which provides financial compensation based on the number of years former students attended one of the 139 government-funded, church-run schools. So far, 17,191 British Columbians have applied for the Common Experience Payment and 13,386 were found to be eligible. The average Common Experience Payment is $20,500, and the average IAP compensation is $105,000. Contact: kpemberton@vancouversun.com
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