'An apology after death is no apology at all,' says lawyer for N.L. residential school survivors
Federal government says it's 'listening to calls for an apology' but stopped short of saying one will be given
A federal government apology to Newfoundland and Labrador residential school survivors is long overdue, according to a lawyer who represented almost a thousand of them in a class-action lawsuit settled last year.
"The judge and all of the lawyers in this case recognize the general urgency to get this thing done. We learn of people within the class dying almost on a daily basis," said Steven Cooper, who is with the law firm Cooper Regel.
One class member who died recently is Inuk Nicky Obed. When he spoke to CBC News in 2015, the nine-year court battle to reach a settlement hadn't yet ended.
We learn of people within the class dying almost on a daily basis.- Steven Cooper, lawyer
At the time, Obed said Newfoundland and Labrador residential survivors who had suffered sexual abuse and lost their Indigenous languages and cultures wanted an apology more than compensation for their suffering.
"We were forgotten and it hurt us because of what we all went through," he said in 2015.
In 2008, then Prime Minister Stephen Harper stood up in the House of Commons to offer an apology to Canadian residential school survivors.
"We now recognize that far too often these institutions gave rise to abuse or neglect and were inadequately controlled and we apologize for failing to protect you," he said.
But that apology excluded Indigenous people who attended residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador.
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Obed lived to see a $50-million settlement reached with the federal Liberal government, but he died in June without an apology.
Cooper said that's a tragedy.
"An apology after death is no apology at all."
Apology more important than money
Cooper said the remaining residential school survivors now want an apology more than financial compensation.
"It's long overdue and it's far more essential to the reconciliation and health of survivors than any cheque from the government of Canada," said Cooper.
"They want to be included in the group that was validated. They need to be told that the Canadian government understands and accepts what happened to them and apologizes for what happened to them."
Cooper said the number of survivors contacting him spiked in May after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked the Pope to apologize to former residential school students.
"It's increasingly frustrating for them," said Cooper.
"When the prime minister asked the Pope for an apology from the Catholic Church, I got a flurry of phone calls and emails saying, 'Why is he asking for that when he has control over an apology in this country for what this government did to this class of people?'"
Nearly a thousand Indigenous people who attended five schools in Newfoundland and Labrador after 1949 have received compensation from the class-action settlement.
Their lawyers argued in court that the federal government had the same responsibilities to them as it did to all other Indigenous people in Canada after Newfoundland joined Confederation.
Federal response to call for apology
When asked for comment by CBC News, the Prime Minister's Office did not respond directly to Cooper's call for an apology.
"Colleagues at Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada/Minister Bennett's office will be following up with you on your questions, as they fall under their purview," wrote a PMO spokesperson in an email.
In a statement, Carolyn Bennett's office stopped short of saying an apology will be given.
"Former students and their families have indicated that an official apology on behalf of the government of Canada is important to their healing and ability to move forward. The government is listening," it says.
"Canada recognizes the value of an official apology in achieving reconciliation with former students of Newfoundland and Labrador boarding schools, and is presently considering these views."
Retired judge and Inuk James Igloliorte has been appointed to lead the healing and commemoration portion of the Newfoundland and Labrador Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.
Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada says Igloliorte is preparing a report for Bennett.
"We look forward to hearing from his recommendations on how to best move past this dark chapter in our history," says the department's statement.