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	Residential School Settlement Receives Cabinet Approval Parry Sound North Star [Canada] May 24, 2006 http://www.parrysoundnorthstar.com/1148485388/ PARRY SOUND – The federal government's settlement package for former Indian residential school students was approved by cabinet earlier this month, along with the advance on the common experience payment for those over the age of 65. Approval by provincial superior courts is now needed for the agreement to be finalized. Once the document is approved by the superior courts, and after a 90 day opt-out period, common experience payments can be made to all former students and programs can be put in place, such as the $60 million truth and reconciliation commission. "This compensation will not make up for all that was lost, or for the pain and suffering that former students and their families have experienced. But it is an acknowledgment that a wrong was committed," said Ontario regional chief Angus Toulouse. "It is my sincere hope that the conclusion of this agreement will bring some closure to former students and their families." The $8,000 advance on the common experience payment–a base payment of $10,000, plus $3,000 for each additional year after the first in a residential school–is for former students who turned 65 before May 30, 2005. To apply for this payment, visit the Assembly of First Nations website at www.afn.ca or go to Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada at www.irsr-rqpi.gc.ca. Follow the instruction for filling out the application. Cabinet approval came one year after Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci was appointed by the government to represent it in negotiating a settlement. Mr. Iacobucci and Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine signed the agreement in principle last November. Indian residential schools for First Nations children between the ages of five and 16 were in operation in Canada before Confederation in 1867. From 1874 to 1969 the schools were funded by the federal government and run by church organizations. After the federal government took over responsibility for the operation of the schools in 1969, many were closed in the mid-1970s, but the last one wasn't shut down until 1996. In the federal government's 1998 Statement of Reconciliation, it acknowledges that the schools were operated during a time when, "attitudes of racial and cultural superiority led to a suppression of Aboriginal culture and values." The settlement laid out in the agreement in principle includes a common experience payment comprising a base sum of $10,000 plus $3,000 for each of a former student's second and subsequent years in the system; funds for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation; the future creation of a $60 million truth and reconciliation commission, including the establishment of a national archive and research centre; $20 million for commemorative events; and an independent assessment process, which will be a new method of review and documentation for former students who claim they experienced sexual or physical abuse while at the schools.
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