Students abused by other students at residential schools to be compensated: Bennett
OTTAWA — More than 200 former residential school students who suffered abuse at the hands of other students will receive compensation from the federal government.
Crown-Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett says the government is embarking on a negotiated settlement with 240 students who she says may not have received fair compensation under the previous process.
Under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement in 2005, the government agreed to compensation of more than $3 billion for 38,000 former students who were victims of abuse.
However, the process imposed a higher bar for claims of student-on-student abuse and many of those victims were denied compensation for never having reported the abuse to a teacher at the time — a condition that was not required of survivors who were abused by religious staff or teachers.