IRSRC - Alternative Dispute Resolution

Resolution Framework & ADR

Compensation

Costs

Canada's Resolution Framework, announced in December 2002, is based on considerable research, consultation and discussion with former students, their communities, legal counsel, the churches, other government departments and advice from a variety of experts. It builds on the government's experience, to date, that was gained through a series of dispute resolution pilot projects involving approximately 400 former students, as well as the government and in some cases, church representatives.

It is estimated that there are some 90,000 former residential school students alive today. Currently, nearly 12,000 of these individuals have legal representation with registered claims in Canadian courts for compensation for abuses suffered as students of Indian residential schools. The new Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) option will provide an access point for the majority of sexual and physical abuse and wrongful confinement claims made by former students of Indian residential schools.

The Resolution Framework is comprehensive. It supports a variety of initiatives intended to provide counselling support to those who are dealing with their experiences at a residential school, which can help former students and their communities to learn more about their history and to honour and pay tribute to one another through commemoration. It also provides additional options for individuals and groups to pursue legal claims for sexual and physical abuse.

It responds to former students' needs for a timely and effective approach to address the legacy of Indian residential schools and to help facilitate healing and reconciliation leading to closure of legal issues. Former students wishing to pursue their legal claims may choose to apply for an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process, either as an individual or in a group, may seek an out-of-court settlement, or go to trial. The ADR system will give priority to the applications of claimants who are elderly or in poor health.

The Framework contains the choices available to former students while fulfilling the federal government's obligation to pay fair compensation to former students who suffered abuse. It is designed to ensure that all claims are verified in less-adversarial processes. It protects the rights of the alleged perpetrators of abuse and demonstrates the federal government's commitment to social justice.

The Resolution Framework was developed as the result of seven years of addressing the legacy of Indian residential schools by managing the caseload, and group alternative dispute resolution pilot projects.

The Resolution Framework is the Government of Canada's continuing response to the findings of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. The response began with Gathering Strength-Canada's Aboriginal Action Plan in 1998 which called for a renewed partnership with Aboriginal people based on recognition of past mistakes and injustices, the advancement of reconciliation, healing and renewal, and the building of a joint plan for the future. A cornerstone of Gathering Strength was the government's commitment of $350 million to support community-based healing initiatives for Aboriginal people who were affected by the legacy of physical and sexual abuse arising from the residential school system.

In 1998 and 1999, the Government of Canada, the churches and the Assembly of First Nations conducted a series of meetings across the country to discuss residential school issues. These exploratory dialogues involved residential school claimants, Aboriginal healers and leaders, lawyers, church leaders and senior government officials. Participants considered the impacts of residential schools on former students, their families and communities and explored possible responses by government and the churches.

Starting in 1999, the government responded by initiating a series of dispute resolution projects which explored various approaches to resolving these claims. There are currently eight alternative dispute resolution projects, in various stages, set up across the country. Two hundred and eighty-five validation hearings have been held in all the projects and 147 settlements have been reached.

In developing the Resolution Framework, consideration was given to the lessons learned from Canadian experiences of institutional abuse such as Mount Cashel and Grandview and the report by Justice Fred Kaufmann on the handling of claims for youth institutions in Nova Scotia, along with trials, out-of-court settlements and group dispute resolution projects. Abroad, the Irish government's plan for a similar compensation process for large numbers of former residential schools students with abuse claims was reviewed in the context of Indian residential schools.

In recognition of the stresses of sharing and re-living their experiences, the Resolution Framework provides health and safety supports to individuals in the process of resolving their claims. Claimants can opt to have a counsellor, a spiritual or traditional healer or other support persons present at their hearing. If the hearing is to take place outside the claimant's community, the federal government will pay the travel costs of support people. These type of supports are available not only to those in ADR, but also those former students settling claims out of court or at trial.

Additional mental health crisis counselling is accessible to First Nations and Inuit claimants through existing programming such as the Non-Insured Health Benefits Program (NHIB). Claimants may also seek out community-based programs funded through the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and healing funds set up by the churches.

A final component of the Resolution Framework pays tribute to former students and marks the significance of their experiences. Commemoration allows survivors to embrace their past and to deal with their history and memories in ways which permit a greater opportunity to move forward. It includes public acknowledgement of the students' experiences at the schools and could include a community activity. Former students may also participate in commemorative activities such as memorial projects, feasts and conferences funded by the federal government for healing and reconciliation.

The Resolution Framework is for people claiming sexual and/or physical abuse as a result of their experiences at Indian residential schools. It does not address claims based on the loss of language and culture. The federal government is currently implementing a 10-year $172 million initiative to work with Aboriginal people to preserve, revitalize and protect Aboriginal languages and cultures for all Aboriginal people, reinforcing at the same time Canada's commitment to address the full range of impacts stemming from the Indian residential schools system.