Gray appointed to resolve residential school crisis

CW STAFF

Deputy Prime Minister Herb Gray has been appointed to sort through the issues concerning residential school lawsuits and the church denominations being sued.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien appointed Gray to find a solution to the financially burdensome raft of lawsuits filed by some 10,000 former students against the government and the churches. Former deputy finance minister Scott Clark will work with Gray on the task, which includes meetings with officials from the Roman Catholic, United, Anglican and Presbyterian churches.

At issue is the churches’ ability to pay settlements. One court case alone has bankrupted the Anglican Diocese of Cariboo, and other dioceses are in precarious financial situations.

In most cases, former students have sued the government, which operated the Indian residential schools but appointed the churches to administrate them. Where the federal government alone has been named in suits, the Department of Justice has named the churches as co-defendants.

Churches see Gray’s appointment as a positive step in resolving the issue, which threatens to force an entire denomination—the Anglican Church of Canada—into bankruptcy.

The move means “constructive dialogue” between the government and the church, comments Bud Smith, legal advisor to the Anglican Diocese of Cariboo, who quotes former minister of Indian Affairs Jane Stewart as saying earlier this year, “the churches have got to feel pain.”

Gray’s appointment “represents a positive change from the attitude expressed by Jane Stewart,” says Smith, because “Mr. Gray has made his career on building consensus.”

But the talks are probably too late for Cariboo, Smith adds. “The fact is, we are the weakest link in the chain, with the fewest resources,” says Smith. “The pain Jane Stewart asked us to suffer is real.”