A rock with the message "Every Child Matters" painted on it sits at a memorial outside the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, in Kamloops, B.C., on Thursday, July 15, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck DARRYL DYCK

By Derek Craddock

JUSTICE FOR DAY SCHOLARS

Claims deadline approaching for residential school Day Scholars

Sep 25, 2023 | 5:00 PM

For years, they’ve been left out but now thousands who attended residential schools as Day Scholars are entitled to compensation and the deadline for submissions is quickly approaching.

Day Scholars are students who attended Federal Indian Residential Schools but did not stay overnight. A class action lawsuit filed over a decade ago claimed these schools destroyed students’ language and culture, violated their cultural and linguistic rights, and caused psychological harm.

“It was the loss of language and culture for the Day Scholars and the Residential Scholars as well,” said John Kingman Phillips, class counsel for the lawsuit. “It’s not complete, it’s never going to be enough, but we’re hoping it’s something available to allow them to get more health in the communities on language and culture and on wellness in their heritage.”

In September of 2021, a settlement agreement, known as Gottfriedson v. Canada, was approved by a Federal Court judge in B.C. This applied to all Day Scholars and their children.

The deadline for this settlement has been set for Oct. 4 but Phillips told paNOW an extension will be granted for some to Jan. 4, 2024

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“The extension provides a final opportunity for class members who have missed the deadline to apply for compensation,” he said.

Under the agreements of the settlement, individuals are entitled to $10,000 in compensation, $50 million will be put towards the creation of the Day Scholars Revitalization Society, $9.6 million will be paid in legal fees for past legal work and settlement implementation, and $2.5 million is earmarked for class counsel to support additional legal work.

According to details of the settlement, 10 former residential schools in Saskatchewan had confirmed Day Scholars. This included Beauval Indian Residential School, St. Michaels in Duck Lake, St. Anthony’s in Onion Lake, Lac La Ronge, and Prince Albert.

( Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada)

( Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada)

As Phillips explained, the journey to get to this point has been long and tough. It began in 2006, with the Residential Schools Settlement Agreement between the federal government and about 86,000 Indigenous people placed in the residential school system.

“That settlement, when it was done, dealt with the Residential Scholars that went to the Federal Indian Residential Schools and it excluded the Day Scholars who were students that attended those same institutions at the same times but did not stay overnight,” added Phillips.

It wasn’t until 2010 that talks began to recognize Day Scholars. The Chiefs of two B.C. First Nations, the Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc, and the Shishalh eventually brought forward a lawsuit in 2012 to seek compensation for those who were ineligible for the 2006 settlement.

After years of discussing their cases in court, the settlement was approved on Sept. 24, 2021, with the claims process opening on Jan. 4, 2022.

Day Scholars are not the only Saskatchewan First Nations people fighting for their right to be recognized in the Residential School system. Earlier this year, those who attended the Île-à-la-Crosse Residential Boarding School filed a class action lawsuit against the Canadian and Saskatchewan governments seeking the same compensation for what they endured at that school.

The school did not qualify because the Roman Catholic Church ran it through the Sisters of Charity and Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. However, the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan argues that both levels of government were still involved in the institution.

Now, with the extension being granted for the Day Scholars settlement, Phillips is hopeful those who endured harm at residential schools in the province will apply.

“I think the people of Saskatchewan, the class members who attended the schools during those periods,” he said. “I would strongly encourage them to make the application (and) seek the extension that is available until January 4, 2024 and use this as an opportunity to further their healing from the residential school experience.”

The Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help residential school survivors and their relatives suffering trauma invoked by the recall of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.

–With Files from The Canadian Press