Mount Cashel money and B.C. schools. (News in Brief).

St. John's, Nfid -- Two news items recently threw light on Canada's failure to settle abuse payments.

In St. John's it was revealed that the money raised since 1996 in Ontario and Newfoundland from the sale of property of the Christian Brothers, has been used by the liquidators, Arthur Andersen Inc., to pay their legal bills. Of an estimated $7 million, not a penny has gone to the victims in Newfoundland. The victims had been awarded $67 million in damages.

Part of the $7 million has gone into the legal battle to wrest away two well-known B.C. Catholic schools, Vancouver College and St. Thomas More College in suburban Burnaby, on the claim that they were "property" of the Christian Brothers in Canada. Parents and lawyers for the two schools have argued that the schools were held "in trust" for the Vancouver Catholic community, and were not the private assets of the Brothers.

After years of legal battles and the final ruling of the courts that the Vancouver schools should be sold, an out-of-court settlement was reached on July 25, whereby the Vancouver Catholic community will pay $19 million to the liquidators and, in return, will keep the two high schools.

As for the victims, they still may get little, if any, of this sum. The Newfoundland government demands that it be repaid first for the $11 million it has paid to 42 of the victims.