www.cbc.ca
Open in
urlscan Pro
104.94.112.234
Public Scan
URL:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/federal-boarding-home-settlement-agreement-approved-1.7236056
Submission: On June 20 via manual from ES — Scanned from CA
Submission: On June 20 via manual from ES — Scanned from CA
Form analysis 1 forms found in the DOM
<form class="searchForm">
<div class="search-autocomplete">
<div id="gn-compact-search-suggestions-status" class="a11y" role="status" aria-atomic="true" aria-live="polite"></div><input id="gn-compact-search" class="searchInput" data-cy="search-bar-input" name="query" placeholder="Search CBC.ca"
type="search" aria-haspopup="listbox" autocomplete="off" autocorrect="off" aria-autocomplete="both" aria-controls="gn-compact-search-autocomplete" aria-describedby="gn-compact-search-autocomplete-assistiveHint" aria-label="Search CBC.ca"><span
class="a11y" id="gn-compact-search-autocomplete-assistiveHint">When search suggestions are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.</span>
</div><button class="searchButton" data-cy="search-bar-button">Search</button>
</form>Text Content
Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
Menu
When search suggestions are available use up and down arrows to review and enter
to select.
Search
Search
Sign In
QUICK LINKS
* News
* Sports
* Radio
* Music
* Listen Live
* TV
* Watch
* news
* Top Stories
* Local
* Climate
* World
* Canada
* Politics
* Indigenous
* Business
* The National
* Health
* Entertainment
* Science
* CBC News Investigates
* Go Public
* About CBC News
* Being Black in Canada
* More
* Health
* Entertainment
* Science
* CBC News Investigates
* Go Public
* About CBC News
* Being Black in Canada
Boarding home survivors awaiting compensation now press for federal apology |
CBC News Loaded
Politics
BOARDING HOME SURVIVORS AWAITING COMPENSATION NOW PRESS FOR FEDERAL APOLOGY
The $1.9-billion federal Indian boarding home settlement agreement is designed
to make it easier to make claims than previous settlements for Indigenous
people, but it doesn't include a recommendation for an official apology —
something survivors say they still want.
OTTAWA PAID NON-INDIGENOUS FAMILIES TO HOUSE INDIGENOUS CHILDREN — MANY WERE
STARVED AND ABUSED
Olivia Stefanovich · CBC News · Posted: Jun 16, 2024 1:00 AM PDT | Last Updated:
June 16
Reginald 'Reg' Percival was the lead plaintiff in the Indian Boarding Homes
class action. (Dillon Hodgin/CBC)
SOCIAL SHARING
* Facebook
0
* X
0
* Email
0
* Reddit
0
* LinkedIn
0
Reginald Percival still vividly remembers the sound of his mother and other
distraught parents screaming on that day in 1969 when he and hundreds of other
First Nations children were rounded up by the RCMP.
Percival, who was 13 at the time, said he was called by his Indian status number
and bundled onto a bus in northern B.C., not knowing where he was going.
"I opened the bus window and looked out and my mom was out there and it's like a
funeral," Percival said. "There was so much crying — … loud crying."
Percival was warned about this day. His dad, who died a week before Percival was
taken from their Nisga'a Nation family home, shared a story with his son about
residential schools.
"He said, 'You're going to be taken soon,' and he said, 'We can't stop it
because if we stop it, the RCMP come and they take us out,'" Percival said. "You
don't want to see your parents go to jail either."
But Percival wasn't sent to residential school that day.
Instead, he spent the next several years with families he did not know, far away
from his own, under a policy known as the federal Boarding Home Program.
Reginald Percival, aged 13, in 1968. (Submitted by Reginald Percival)
For more than four decades, the federal government paid mostly non-Indigenous
families to house approximately 40,000 First Nations and Inuit children while
they attended elementary and high schools between the 1950s and early 1990s.
The families were supposed to care for the children. Many instead endured
repeated physical, sexual, verbal and psychological abuse.
Now, the suffering of boarding home survivors is being recognized and
compensated under a Federal Court-approved $1.9-billion settlement agreement
with Ottawa.
'SOME OF US NEVER MADE IT HOME'
The deal is designed to make it easier for survivors to make claims than
previous settlements for Indigenous people did. But it does not include a
recommendation for an official apology — and Percival said the federal
government should step up.
"The prime minister of Canada has an obligation, I think, to say … I'm sorry for
what happened. Because some of us never made it home," Percival said.
Boarding home survivors were left out of a 2008 official apology by then-prime
minister Stephen Harper for residential schools, and subsequent apologies by
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
WATCH | Why one boarding home survivor wants the federal government to say
'sorry':
BOARDING HOME SURVIVORS CALL FOR OFFICIAL APOLOGY
4 days ago
Duration 1:05
Boarding home survivor Reginald Percival is urging the federal government to
apologize for creating the federal Indian Boarding Home Program.
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree said the federal
government will look at other ways it can support survivors.
"Although we cannot repair the past, we can definitely set the record straight
and support families and survivors," Anandasangaree said.
The settlement covers the period from the program's launch on Sept. 1, 1951, to
June 30, 1992, when responsibility for education was transferred from Ottawa to
Indigenous governing bodies.
Survivors are eligible for sums of $10,000 to $200,000, depending on the
severity of abuse.
The settlement also includes a new $50-million foundation dedicated to survivors
and their descendants for healing, commemoration, language and culture.
CLAIMS PROCESS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER SETTLEMENTS
To ensure that all eligible survivors receive their share, compensation for
boarding home survivors is not capped. That wasn't the case with other
agreements, such as the Sixties Scoop settlement.
Survivors are also allowed to submit more than one claim — the first to get
$10,000 for attending a boarding home, and a second for additional compensation
based on the abuse suffered.
"It's difficult to tell your story," said class counsel Douglas Lennox of Klein
Lawyers.
"We found with some other settlements, like day schools, people felt pressure to
get a claim in quickly — financial pressure, emotional pressure — and they put
in a lower level claim. And later on, many claimants seem to have regretted that
decision."
WATCH | Agreement struck with improvements in mind:
LESSONS LEARNED FROM PREVIOUS ABUSE SETTLEMENTS
4 days ago
Duration 0:40
Lawyer Douglas Lennox explains why the federal Indian Boarding Home Program
settlement agreement gives survivors more flexibility to submit claims and share
their stories.
But like the day school settlement, and unlike the residential school claims
process, the claims process for boarding home survivors is entirely paper-based
and won't involve hearings with lawyers. Percival said that was an important
improvement.
"I know some of the people that went through that process. They couldn't
recover," he said.
Survivors can submit claims from Wednesday, Aug. 21 to Feb. 21, 2027.
Any boarding home survivor who would like to opt out of the settlement agreement
has until Monday, July 22. Survivors who do not opt out will not be able to
pursue their own legal action against the federal government.
OVERCOMING A LEGACY OF TROUBLING FEDERAL POLICY
The compensation is for harm suffered in boarding homes, not schools claimants
attended.
Many children in boarding homes were starved, used as free child labour and
forbidden from speaking their Indigenous language or practicing their culture.
Many had limited contact with their families, if any.
When they returned to their homes years later, survivors often reported no
longer being able to meaningfully connect with their communities.
Former Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Mary Simon, now Governor General,
shakes hands with former prime minister Stephen Harper as former Assembly of
First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine watches on June 11, 2008, the day
Harper formally apologized on behalf of the Canadian government for the
residential school system. (Fred Chartrand/Canadian Press)
When Percival returned home, he said he sat on the sidelines, unable to
participate in cultural activities.
"It's ingrained in our brains that we can't do that," he said. "We were told
that to be good Indian, you have to forget about your culture."
But at the age of 68, Percival is reconnecting with his roots. He just made his
first drum and wrote a song called, "If you abuse this child."
"I wanted to dedicate that song to all of the survivors," Percival said. "Power
to you people. Survivors, stay strong."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Olivia Stefanovich
Senior reporter
Olivia Stefanovich is a senior reporter for CBC's Parliamentary Bureau based in
Ottawa. She previously worked in Toronto, Saskatchewan and northern Ontario.
Connect with her on X at @CBCOlivia. Reach out confidentially:
olivia.stefanovich@cbc.ca.
CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices|About CBC News
Corrections and clarifications|Submit a news tip|Report error
RELATED STORIES
* Nunatsiavut government demands Liberal MP's demotion over NunatuKavut
comments
* Municipality appealing $1.67M judgement in Sauble Beach boundary dispute with
First Nation
EXTERNAL LINKS
Indian Boarding Homes class action
FOOTER LINKS
MY ACCOUNT
* Profile
* CBC Gem
* Newsletters
* About CBC Accounts
CONNECT WITH CBC
* Facebook
* X
* YouTube
* Instagram
* Mobile
* RSS
* Podcasts
CONTACT CBC
* Submit Feedback
* Help Centre
Audience Relations, CBC
P.O. Box 500 Station A
Toronto, ON
Canada, M5W 1E6
Toll-free (Canada only):
1-866-306-4636
ABOUT CBC
* Corporate Info
* Sitemap
* Reuse & Permission
* Terms of Use
* Privacy
* Jobs
* Our Unions
* Independent Producers
* Political Ads Registry
* AdChoices
SERVICES
* Ombudsman
* Corrections and Clarifications
* Public Appearances
* Commercial Services
* CBC Shop
* Doing Business with Us
* Renting Facilities
* Radio Canada International
* CBC Lite
ACCESSIBILITY
It is a priority for CBC to create products that are accessible to all in Canada
including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges.
Closed Captioning and Described Video is available for many CBC shows offered on
CBC Gem.
* About CBC Accessibility
* Accessibility Feedback
*
* ©2024 CBC/Radio-Canada. All rights reserved.
* Visitez Radio-Canada.ca
now
INFORMATION ABOUT COOKIES
We and select advertising partners use trackers to collect some of your data in
order to enhance your experience and to deliver personalized content and
advertising. If you are not comfortable with the use of this information, please
review your device and browser privacy settings before continuing your visit.
Learn moreClose
0