Canada discharged Catholic entities from $25M promise for residential schools: document

The residential schools settlement obligated the 48 Catholic entities involved to pay $79 million, which includes raising $25 million for residential school survivors.

Canada agreed to “forever discharge” Catholic entities from their promise to raise $25 million for residential school survivors and also picked up their legal bill, a final release document shows.

The Canadian Press obtained a signed copy of the 2015 agreement through federal Access-to-Information laws, marking what appears to be the first time the document has been widely publicized.

“That’s a very, very important set of records,” said Ry Moran, an associate librarian at the University of Victoria and founding director of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

“Like all questions around accountability, the question is who made the decision? How was that decision made? Who ultimately signed off on this?”

Indigenous leaders and legal experts have long questioned why Ottawa opted to give up an appeal of a court decision that meant Catholic entities didn’t have to pay their remaining financial obligations under the historic Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement.

The actions of the Catholic groups involved — and by extension, the Catholic Church as an institution — as well as Ottawa, have been under renewed scrutiny since the uncovering of what are believed to be hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential school sites, which First Nations began announcing last year.

The dispute in question arose years before and culminated in a court decision handed down by a Saskatchewan judge in July 2015.

The residential schools settlement obligated the 48 Catholic entities involved to pay $79 million, which was broken into three parts, including making “best efforts” to raise $25 million for residential school survivors.