Day school survivors legacy fund now open for funding requests

A fund for projects for healing, language and cultural revitalization and commemoration for day school survivors and their families is now accepting applications.

The McLean Legacy Fund is named after Garry McLean, a Manitoba-based advocate for Federal Indian Day School survivors, who was the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against the Government of Canada. McLean died from cancer in 2019 at the age of 67, just before a final settlement agreement was reached.

Like residential schools, Federal Indian Day Schools were designed to assimilate Indigenous children while eradicating Indigenous languages and cultures. There were 699 Federal Indian Day Schools across Canada including one in Lake Manitoba First Nation, the Dog Creek Day School, which Garry McLean attended. About 200,000 Indigenous children attended day schools.

The $1.47 billion settlement included a $200 million legacy fund. The McLean Day Schools Settlement Corporation says the legacy fund was created to support healing and wellness, language and culture preservation, commemoration and truth-telling for survivors and their families.

"We know the journey began with tremendous pain and with that pain comes a powerful opportunity for healing, truth telling, revitalization of our languages, strengthening our cultures, and enhancing the pride of our identity," said Claudette Command, the settlement corporation's CEO, at a news conference in Ottawa Monday.

Elder Gloria Wells, a board member with the legacy fund, said, "I strongly believe that ceremony and our language and our culture will be the ones to help us."

The first call for submissions for funding opened Monday. There are two categories: survivor committee establishment that is one-time funding of up to $25,000, and money for community programs, up to $100,000 or $250,000 a year for four years, depending on the type of program.

Southern Chiefs Organization Grand Chief Jerry Daniels, who was a friend of McLean, said he was "a powerful voice for justice and a relentless advocate for survivors of Indian Day Schools.... His efforts led to real change for thousands of our people."

With the launch of the legacy fund, "his legacy will continue to uplift survivors and their families for generations to come," Daniels said.

The application deadline for the first round of funding is the end of September.