Residential school survivors recall arrests

By Alan S. Hale
Timmins Press
May 25, 2015

http://www.timminspress.com/2015/05/25/school-survivors-recall-arrests

TIMMINS - A group of nine survivors of the Bishop Horden Indian Residential School are hoping to set a legal precedent that could reopen hundreds of investigations into abuse at residential schools across Canada.

Lawyers for the former students and the Assembly of First Nations were in Ontario Superior Court last Wednesday, May 20, arguing that the federal Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs has an obligation under the compensation settlement with residential school survivors to search for evidence to corroborate claims of abuse outside of their own records. That includes sifting through decades-old police reports and court documents if need be.

The ministry is arguing that it has the discretion to choose how far it is willing to look for that evidence, and in this case, it felt that looking through the ministry’s archives and those of Library and Archives Canada was sufficient.

“They didn’t go and look in places where they would find things about abuse, including the RCMP or health records. The federal government is saying they’ve done enough,” said Timmins lawyer Suzanne Desrosiers, who is representing one of the survivors in the lawsuit.