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	Deal Close on Residential Schools, Indian Affairs Minister Says CBC [Canada] April 21, 2006 http://www.cbc.ca/sask/story/residential-schools060421.html A final deal on a compensation package for residential school survivors is only days away, Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Jim Prentice said Friday. It was last year when Ottawa and First Nations organizations settled on a $1.9-billion compensation package for as many as 86,000 aboriginal people who attended church-run schools. Prentice made his comments in Whitehorse on the last day of a week-long tour of the three northern territories. Earlier this week, lobbyists and lawyers for the survivors said they had heard a final package may not be ready until next year. There was great concern some people wouldn't live long enough to receive the compensation. Prentice told reporters Friday the Conservative government isn't stalling on residential school payments. He says the final document is in place and court approval is being sought. "I expect to have the final agreement in my hands within the next several days," he says. "I anticipate from my discussions with [special mediator Frank Iacobucci] that it will take another week or so to secure the agreement of all the parties." The common experience payments would be for all residential schools students, which would release the government and churches from all further liability relating to the Indian residential school experience, except in cases of sexual abuse and serious incidents of physical abuse. About 13,000 people who attended aboriginal residential schools in the 20th century have sued Ottawa and church organizations, alleging physical, sexual and emotional abuse and loss of culture and language. About 3,000 of the claims are from Saskatchewan.
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