Summer 1998

Class Action suit filed by former students of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School

members want to be included in negotiations over damages with Canadian Government

(The following article is based in part on articles appearing in the Chronicle-Herald/The Mail-Star of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The article appears with the permission of Halifax Herald, Ltd.)

In May of 1997, a group representing more than 900 people who attended the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School in Nova Scotia filed a class-action law suit against the Canadian Government and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Halifax. The group filing the case is the Association for the Survivors of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School. The Association is not affiliated with any other group or organization. It is an entity by itself and it operates on zero funding.

The Association wants compensation for the physical, sexual and emotional abuse, as well as racism, which it claims that its members suffered while attending the school. It is also asking for a healing process and a formal apology from the government and the diocese. The Association is headed by Nora Bernard, a Micmac former student of the school. The group's attorney is John McKiggan of Arnold, Pizzo, McKiggan in Halifax.

According to published reports about the lawsuit in The Chronicle-Herald of Halifax, this is the largest lawsuit asking for compensation for abuse ever filed in Canada. It is also the first time that the Canadian Department of Indian Affairs has ever faced a class action lawsuit by former students of a residential school. There is no law allowing class-actions in Nova Scotia, however. According to a Canadian authority on class action lawsuits who was interviewed by The Chronicle Herald, the Association may have a tough time with its case.

In January of this year, the Canadian Government formally apologized to former students of residential schools and announced that it was setting up a $350-million "healing fund" to go towards community counseling and treatment. Ms. Bernard stated to The Chronicle Herald that the government's apology addressed only one of three issues that had been raised by the lawsuit--namely, the apology. The Association continues to ask for individual compensation for former students, as well as a healing process designed specifically for those students. Ms. Bernard pointed out that programs covered by the healing fund already exist on all reserves. Phil Fontaine, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, has been criticized for not talking to the Association before he discussed the residential school situation with the Canadian Government.

The Association wants to be consulted about how the healing fund should be used. It also wants to be included in any talks dealing with possible compensation for former students. In talking to The Chronicle Herald, Attorney Mckiggan pointed out that the Association is the largest single group of survivors in Canada.

In early April of this year, Mr. Fontaine said that he would urge the Canadian Government to include the Association in future negotiations and to recognize its efforts publicly.

The Shubenacadie Indian Residential School operated from 1930 until it closed in 1967. It was one of 77 such schools built across Canada by the Canadian Government beginning in 1879. About 2,000 Micmac children from Atlantic Canada attended the school. The school was staffed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Halifax and the Sisters of Charity. It was located in central Nova Scotia, not far from the Indian Brook Reserve.

In papers filed with the court, the Association claimed that the Canadian Department of Indian Affairs and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Halifax failed to fulfil its obligations to First Nation people when it set up and administered the system of residential schools throughout Canada. The papers also claim that the goal in setting up these schools was "the assimilation and integration of First Nations people into white society and the elimination of Indian culture in Canada."

The Association claimed that Micmac children at the school were systematically submitted to abuse, mistreatment and racist and cultural harassment. Children were not allowed to speak their native language or practice their native religion. They lived in "overcrowded and inhuman residence conditions." The filed papers also state that the school failed "to provide the minimum necessities of life, resulting in malnutrition and illness" and that proper medical attention was not given. The Association claims that the school administrators used child labor.

In 1997, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples issued findings and recommendations to the Canadian Government regarding its treatment of Native People. Among its findings, the Commission stated that the 77 residential schools severely disrupted aboriginal families, cultures and identities. One of the recommendations was that a wide-ranging public inquiry be held into the origins and effects of residential schools on First Nations peoples.

Until recently, the Canadian Government has dealt with cases alleging abuse at residential schools on a case by case basis. The government has reportedly paid out more than $3-million in out of court settlements in individual cases involving former students of a school in Saskatchewan. As of last year, 72 out of about 240 claims have been settled in Saskatchewan and British Columbia.

If you want more information about the Association for the Survivors of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School or are a survivor, call Nora Bernard at 902-893-4303. Her address is 768 Willow Street, Truro, Nova Scotia B2N5B6, Canada. You may also contact Attorney John McKiggan at Arnold, Pizzo, Mckiggan, 5475 Spring Garden Road, Suite 304, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J3T2, Canada, or call 902-423-2050. A Grand Assembly to bring survivors up to date will be held on June 28 and 29 at the Millbrook Community Center in Truro. For more information, call Nora Bernard.