AHS respond to apology and wait for reply.

Open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Mr. Minister,

Please accept my office's thanks and gratitude for your government and parliament's recognition of the past injustices of the residential school policies and subsequent apologies.

I have consulted with my Elders and community members. They have requested that my office submit their views for your consideration.

Mr. Minister, they have two main areas of concern. The first area of concern deals with a century of Canadian history. The people strongly feel that residential schools are a significant part of Canadian history.

Our Chief, BillyJo De La Ronde recently stated, let us forgive, but never, never forget. This Sir, is our concern. Without this era of history being taught as part of a curriculum, our youth will forget, other Canadians will forget and the history of residential schools will become a foot note or gather dust in the many tomes that have and will be written on shelves that the general population will never have access to. Our question Sir is, has your department or the Executive of these programs considered the development of a curriculum for all schools? And if not how could this process be initiated?

Our second area of concern Sir, relates to the stated payments to date, with the individual assessment process (IAP) payments and primarily with the common experience payment.

Recent statistics released minutes prior to the apology by CBC state that 7,600 IAP claims have been submitted and 2,900 have been settled to the sum of $156.9 million. With these figures the average would be $54,137 per claimant. Several community members have spoken out about these amounts. Two examples amongst a host of complaints I will share with you, one of our women Elders had applied for C.E.P. and had been turned down. She also submitted an application for I.A.P. During her hearing the adjudicator believed her story. She presented two claims of abuse, abuse that in today's society would lead to criminal charges. She was awarded one thousand dollars per abuse for the sum of two thousand dollars less legal fees. The other case I wish to mention is a man who spent many years in the school, suffered through sexual abuse and was unable to read upon "completion" of school. He realized approximately $11,000 for his claims.

There are many stories similar to the above two. Sir, does the stated figure truly reflect what the survivors are receiving or do they reflect administrative fees and legal fees?

The area of greatest consternation to my community members is the stated figures with C.E.P. It was stated that out of the approximate 80 thousand applicants for C.E.P. a total of 65,584 applicants had received compensation to the sum of $1.4 billion.

Many media reports state that the average payout is anywhere between $26,000 and $28,000, 5,584 applicants times $28,000 equals to a little over $18 million three hundred dollars. When one is unaware of the process, reads or hears on radio or TV that survivors have received compensation to the sum of $1.4 billion, most Canadians read this as the survivors actually receiving these dollars. A case in point, a member of your own party on a radio talk show stated that he didn't think that spending $4 billion dollars would solve the problem.

If a member of parliament is unaware of how the funds are disbursed, how can ordinary hard working Canadian families understand this any differently?

In reality Sir, the figures as we understand then for the C.E.P. read as such. Survivors receive approximately $18 million three hundred dollars. In order to disburse these funds the government of Canada paid approximately $1.382 billion dollars, does this not seem staggering to you? How is this justified? Who is receiving the money?

Parliament's apology assisted many Canadians in realizing the ordeals experienced by First Nations individuals, families and communities. It provided many Canadians with information they were unaware of. It provided many Canadians the opportunity to develop empathy for the struggles of First Nations people. It provided hope of bridging the diverse cultures of Canadians. I suggest to you Sir that everytime the media releases erroneous information from government sources of what survivors truly receive, the gains of the apology become eroded.

I must highlight the numbers one more time: $18 million three hundred thousand paid out, $1,382 billion dollars to disperse the above amount.

Sir, as you will note I am sending a copy of this letter to different leaders of political parties along with leaders of First Nations organizations. The members of my community are stunned that no one has questioned what is occurring with the money. The Canadian people deserve to know the realities of the financial disbursements.

I and my community would appreciate a response to our questions and concern. I would also invite a response from the other recipients of this letter.

Respectfully,

Lorraine Flatfoot - Co-ordinator Aboriginal Healing Strategy