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	Support Group Aids Lawyers Troubled by Residential-School Cases CBC [Canada] April 24, 2006 http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/story/mb_lawyer-support-20060424.html A group of Winnipeg lawyers who represent former residential-school students has started a self-help group, comparing the stress they feel to the experiences of emergency workers in war zones. Lawyer Israel Ludwig says the stress of dealing with hundreds of residential-school cases was taking its toll on the lawyers. Ludwig has sat across the table from more residential-school clients than he can count, listening to their stories of abuse and misery. "Their anguish is so visible and so tactile that I can tell you I've found myself in tears on a number of occasions, and I wasn't alone," he told CBC News. "We, as counsel, were having difficulty in being professional in our jobs because we were just so overcome with the emotion of what was going on, so we knew we needed strategies to help us deal with this problem." Ludwig and several colleagues called in a rabbi who is also a family therapist. The rabbi first compared the lawyers to relief workers who work in war-torn areas, a characterization the group feels is apt. "Not a lot of lawyers have cases where, day in and day out, people come in with a story and start to cry because of the bad memories," he said. "These are childhood memories coming back and these are probably the toughest ones on people because it just tears them apart when they tell it." Nancy Chapman with the Mennonite Central Committee, which does relief work around the world, is not fazed by the comparison. "Being a lawyer, you should be able to work this out, pull yourself up and work this through, but what happens is you can be months down the line, and all of a sudden something will happen and it becomes a trigger," she said. Ray Mason, who spent 11 years in residential schools, says he likes the idea of the support group for the lawyers. "I certainly would want my lawyer to be on top of his job when he's dealing with my case, and if he needs to go see a counsellor or get some help, that's good," he said. Ludwig said the support group has helped him make some changes to deal with the stress, such as monitoring his workload. He said his group is drawing interest from others who work with residential-school cases. Compensation agreement coming soon: minister Meanwhile, a final deal on a compensation package for former residential-school students is only days away, according to Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Jim Prentice. The federal government and First Nations organizations settled last year on a $1.9-billion compensation package for as many as 86,000 aboriginal people who attended the church-run schools. But last week, lobbyists and lawyers for the former students said they had heard a final package with the new Conservative government may not be ready until next year. They raised concerns that some former students might not live long enough to receive the compensation. Prentice told reporters Friday the Conservative government isn't stalling on the compensation package. The final document is in place, he told reporters in Whitehorse, and court approval is being sought. "I expect to have the final agreement in my hands within the next several days," he said. "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." All former residential-school students would receive the common-experience payments, 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.
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