CANADA
Toronto Star
By: Tonda MacCharles Ottawa Bureau reporter, Published on Thu Sep 04 2014
OTTAWA—The federal government is “obstructing justice” by refusing to hand over unedited documents to former residents of St. Anne’s Residential School, says the NDP and a lawyer for several dozen aboriginal victims of abuse.
Nine months ago, an Ontario court ordered the federal government to hand over all documents that could help corroborate the stories of the school’s survivors, who say the documents will support their compensation claims.
About 12,300 documents — amounting to nearly 40,000 pages — were provided on Aug. 1. But the material, including trial transcripts, witness statements to police, even certificates of conviction, was heavily redacted — “nearly useless” in the words of lawyer Fay Brunning, who represents about 60 of hundreds of former students.
The names of perpetrators, the names of other potential witnesses to abuse — all key information that could help bolster people’s claims — were blacked out, she says.
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