CANADA
Toronto Star
By: Joel Eastwood Staff Reporter, Published on Tue Jan 14 2014
Calling it the site of some of the most egregious incidents of abuse in Canada’s residential school system, a judge has ordered the federal government to hand over thousands of documents to support the compensation claims of the survivors of St. Anne’s residential school.
Sixty survivors of St. Anne’s have fought for more than a year to have the federal government release the documents, which were created during a police investigation in the 1990s.
“The documents speak to the sexual and physical abuse suffered by students at St. Anne’s,” said Ontario Superior Court Justice Paul Perell in his decision.
The survivors say the documents will support their compensation claims under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Act.
“Finally, the level of abuse at St. Anne’s is being recognized and they will not have to prove the terrible conditions of the school in each hearing by themselves,” said Fay Brunning, the lawyer for the St. Anne’s survivors, in an email. “The adjudicators and claimants are going to obtain a true picture of the horrors of attending that school.”
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