Advocates shocked by Catholic list claiming $28M of 'in-kind' help for residential school survivors
CBC
Questions are being raised about the Catholic Church's claim it provided $28 million worth of "in-kind" compensation to residential school survivors.
CBC News has obtained the log detailing the in-kind claims for dozens of Canadian Catholic entities party to the landmark 2005 Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement (IRSSA).
Survivors and advocates interviewed say they're shocked, as many of the listed services are nothing more than attempts to evangelize and convert Indigenous people.
The list includes bible-study programs, placement of priests and nuns in remote northern communities, services under the frequently used label of "religiosity" and religious-document translation.
"It's distressing to see this. This is ordinary church religious work repackaged as in-kind services and reconciliation. This is not legitimate," said Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, a former judge and director of the University of British Columbia's Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre.
Some of the items include several hundred thousands of dollars for an Ottawa scholarship program for Indigenous students and support for a Regina drop-in centre for mainly Indigenous women and children.
But Turpel-Lafond and others say millions more are questionable and some contradict the spirit of reconciliation. The following contributions are among those made between 2007 and 2010, according to the log:
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