Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Perry Bellegarde says the Government of Canada must work with survivors of the St. Anne’s Residential School to achieve justice and reconciliation.
“We stand with the survivors of the St. Anne’s Residential School in their fight for justice,” said Assembly of First Nations National Chief Bellegarde. “We join their call for Canada to put aside court battles and work with them to reach a negotiated settlement that will help in their journey to healing. Canada says it is committed to reconciliation, and justice for residential schools survivors is fundamental to that work. We have supported the survivors of St. Anne’s Residential School in the past and we stand with them again today.”
The survivors are calling on the federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett to work with them on a negotiated settlement. On January 4, 2018, in the most recent court decision on this matter, Ontario Superior Court Justice Paul Perell ruled that the federal government could continue to reject the use of police and court transcripts as evidence in student-on-student compensation claims from survivors who attended St. Anne's Indian Residential School.
AFN has participated in legal action supporting St. Anne’s survivors in the past and will continue to support them.
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