CANADA
Toronto Star
By ALEX BOUTILIER
Ottawa Bureau Reporter
Sat., June 18, 2016
OTTAWA—The federal government is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a decision that gives residential school survivors the ultimate say in what happens to their testimony.
Ottawa has asked the Supreme Court to determine if residential school survivors’ testimony count as “government documents” and should remain archived with the federal government.
If the court agrees, it would overturn a recent decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal, which agreed survivors should have the opportunity to archive their testimony with the arm’s-length National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, a hub at the University of Manitoba that serves as the permanent repository for records related to the residential school system.
It would also mean the fate of the documents will rest with the government, not the survivors.
If survivors do not decide to have their testimony archived, the Ontario Superior Court ruled the testimony should be destroyed within 15 years.
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