Former residential school student claims 'runaround'
Last Updated: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 | 11:08 AM CT
CBC News
Some former Indian residential school students say they're frustrated at delays in getting their share of the compensation fund.
Thousands of people are still waiting for compensation from Ottawa's $2-billion "common experience" fund, months after it was promised. One in four of those who have made a claim are still waiting on their money, according to the latest update from the federal government.
For much of the 20th century, the schools were operated by churches under the federal government's supervision. Thousands of students filed lawsuits claiming they were abused or lost their language and culture. A deal for Ottawa to make payments to all former students, numbering about 78,000, was approved last year.
One man from Saskatchewan's Day Star First Nation, about 150 kilometres north of Regina, said he sent his paperwork to Ottawa in September, but since then has been getting "the runaround."
"I'm like a sheet in the wind. I'm being blown around," said Garnet Tootoosis, who like many First Nations people, was forced to attend a residential school. He went to one in Prince Albert in the 1970s.
Tootoosis said that experience led to many problems in his life, problems he has managed to overcome.
But getting compensation money that Ottawa promised has been a new exercise in frustration.
"I filled the forms in the end of September and they're still saying now that they're still in a reviewing process," he said. "To me, it's just another bureaucratic line, another way to slough off a problem."
Tootoosis says his money, $16,000, will be used to pay bills and spend on his family.
He calls Ottawa every day to find out if his cheque is coming, he said.
Federal officials have said they are still working on about 21,000 claims.
When the payments were announced, Ottawa promised almost all would be paid before the end of November.
The program pays former students $10,000, plus $3,000 for every year they attended the schools.
