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Crown-Indigenous Relations Ministerย Marc Miller says heโs โabsolutely openโย to an independent review of the residential schoolย compensation deal reached between the federal government and Catholic Church.
โI would say weโre absolutely open to the idea;ย we have to get to the bottom of what weโve done,โ Miller said in a phone interview Monday. โThe job Iโve been given is to get to the bottom of these things.โฆ This is not the end of the story.โ
Advocates say while thatโs encouraging news, Miller could show good faith by immediately releasing key government documents related to theย dealย he admits are already inย his possession.
โWe expect the federal government to release everything. This is a necessary step for many survivors in their own healing journey,โ Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Chief Bobby Cameron said.
In recent months, a CBC News investigation has revealed new details of the Catholic Churchโs three key promises to compensate survivors underย the landmarkย Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA).
Back in 2005, itย had promisedย $29 million in cash, but this commitment was not met after millions of dollars were spent on lawyers, administration and other unapproved expenses.
The Church had also promised to give โbest effortsโ to fundraise $25 million, butย that effort came up $21 million short during a period when Catholic officials devotedย more than $300 million toย church and cathedral building projects.
Finally, the Church promised to provide $25 million worth of โin-kind servicesโย to survivors. CBC News obtained the list of those services, and survivors say most of the money providedย was forย inappropriateย colonial religious services, such as Bible study coursesย or sending priests and nuns to preach in Indigenous communities.
Other denominations, such as United, Anglican and Presbyterian denominations, paid without incident. But 10 years later, the Catholic Church had not.
Former ministers, bureaucrats still hold documents
Government officials took the church to court and told them to pay. A Saskatchewan judge sided with the Catholic Church, approving a buyout of less than $2 million.
The government appealed, but then dropped or abandonedย itย and the case was closed. Survivors and advocates have been trying for years to find out exactly who dropped the case and why.
CBC News recentlyย reached out toย more than a dozen current or formerย ministers and senior bureaucrats;ย several admit they likely have relevantย documents but they refused to share them.
That includes bothย current Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller and Bernard Valcourt, who served as the Conservative minister of Aboriginal affairs and northern development from February 2013 until his defeat in the October 2015 federal election.
Miller said it was Valcourt who made the decision to abandon the appeal just before the new Liberal government took power. He said he has a document proving it, but declined to share it.
The document wasย marked โsecretโ by officials in the former Conservativeย government,ย Miller said, and is therefore subject to cabinet confidence, meaning it canโt be shared.
โThere may have been some โ Iโm only speculating โ political motivation for it at the time. Iโll be working with my team to see if we can declassify it so that people that want to see it can get a copy of it,โ Miller said.
Institutions, including the federal government, have often hidden behind claims of confidentiality and solicitor-client privilege, Miller acknowledged.
Itโsย been โinvokedย too broadlyย to withhold a wide swathย of documents, which, if provided, could give some element of closure,โ he said.
When reached this week by phone at his home in New Brunswick, Valcourt was asked toย provide his notes or emails from that period. He declined. โItโs filed far, far away,โ he said.
When told of Millerโs accusation, Valcourt said:ย โI donโt knowย anything about this particular case. If [Miller]ย feels good saying that, good for him. I could care less.โ
โI keep an open mindโ
As for a possibleย independent review, Miller said while discussions are still โin theirย infancy,โ he is already talking with experts on the best course of action.
There may not be any more relevant documents or testimony to discover, Miller said, but โthings keep popping up, so I wouldnโt be surprised.โ
โI keep an open mind with these things,โ he said.
Any review or inquiryย must include full, public document disclosure and the power to compel witnesses to testify, said Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, academic director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia.
โIt has to be all or nothing. We need accountability. Thatโs what survivors want. We owe it to them,โ Turpel-Lafond said. โA lot of this still doesnโt add up.โ
Cameron said the fact there are relevantย documents still not shared makes him sick. There is no higher moral or legal imperative than providing truth to Canadaโs 150,000 survivors,ย their families and their communities, he said.
โThis is disgusting, frustratingย and weโre angry,โ said Cameron. โThese are our grandmothers, our grandfathers, our
mothers and fathers, our sisters and brothers, our family members that theyโre disrespecting.
โAgain, our survivors get a slap in the face.โ
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