Residential Schools and Reconciliation by J. R. Miller

Author:J. R. Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Toronto Press

In addition to the CEP, the settlement agreement included the Independent Assessment Process (IAP) to deal with serious physical and sexual abuse. Its predecessor, the dispute resolution (DR) program, had been created to replace individual litigation after the exploratory dialogues and pilot projects. It had been designed to avoid putting claimants through an adversarial process, specifically cross-examination about the abuse they had suffered, which would have been required in a court procedure. But critics of DR, including a good number of claimants, had contended that they suffered revictimization as a result of the arbiter’s questioning in a DR hearing. A government study of dispute resolution had emphasized the adverse impact the process often had on survivors, as well as the slow pace at which claims were settled. Another examination by the Assembly of First Nations that was funded by the federal government also produced an indictment of dispute resolution. These critiques were the public justification for the push by the AFN and the government for what became the settlement agreement. And certainly the IRSSA included a lengthy Schedule D on IAP. One section of that schedule was intended to reflect the claimant-centred nature of the new program as well as aid commemoration. It said, if “a claimant requests a copy of their own evidence for memorialization,” the survivor “will also be given the option of having the transcript deposited in an archive developed for the purpose.”80

Given the contested nature of DR and other procedures that had preceded the IAP, one might have expected it to differ sharply from its predecessors. And yet the striking thing about IAP was its similarity to the apparently discredited dispute resolution. Indeed, lawyer Doug Ewart, who had designed DR, recalled that Frank Iacobucci had drawn him into the talks leading to the settlement agreement. The former Supreme Court justice had asked Ewart to accompany him to Edmonton for a meeting of the parties to the talks, at which Iacobucci asked representatives of survivors, churches, government, and law firms if they should design a new adjudication model or continue with DR. The Department of Justice did not take a position, but most of the plaintiffs’ lawyers said they wanted to keep DR, with some improvements, because it was working for their clients. The AFN was content to go along with the latter approach.81 And that was largely what happened. The chief adjudicator under DR, Ted Hughes, was succeeded by Deputy Chief Adjudicator Dan Ish, a Saskatoon law professor, to head the Independent Assessment Process, and his office and staff in Regina continued to function, though named the Indian Residential Schools Adjudication Secretariat (IRSAS). Yet, there were some differences. Compensation would no longer vary according to the region from which the claimant came, and it was possible to be compensated for loss of income. In addition, IAP adjudicators would review and could re-assess fees that a claimant’s lawyer charged: according to the settlement agreement, “Adjudicators may resolve disputes about the disbursements to be paid.” The government would

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.