Canada- Last Day for Residential School Abuse Claims to Be Filed, SNAP Responds

By Barbara Dorris
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
September 19, 2012

http://www.snapnetwork.org/canada_last_day_for_residential_school_abuse_claims_to_be_filed_snap_responds

Today is the last day for aboriginal Canadians, who suffered abuse while in the residential school system, to file a claim. After today the only way to file a claim will be through court action.

The Canadian Independent Assessment Process was created to handle compensation cases regarding sexual and, other kinds of abuse, of children in the residential school system.

While we applaud the Canadian government for creating the IAP and for extending the deadline last year, we believe putting time constraints on reporting sexual abuse to be insensitive and dangerous.

We hope that anyone who suffered abuse in the residential school system finds the courage and the strength to report their abuse before the deadline at 11:59 tonight. We also hope that since the number of abuse cases reported have "increased exponentially in the past three months", that the Canadian government will extend the deadline.