FSIN Officials Vent Frustration Over CEP Cheques

FSIN Officials Vent Frustration Over CEP Cheques

Tuesday, January 22, 2008 at 14:49

 

 

The FSIN says residential school survivors continue to be re-victimized by the common experience payment process.

 

Vice-Chief Lyle Whitefish says the federation has been hearing from former students who are angry and frustrated with how the CEP process is going.

 

Whitefish says the process was flawed from the outset, because First Nations were not consulted over potential problem areas — such as language barriers.

 

Whitefish says there are still a variety of problems, including the average payment victims have received.

 

He says the CEP cheques have averaged $19,000, when an average of $24,000 to $28,000 was promised.

 

Whitefish says there are about 4,800 residential school survivors waiting for school validation in this province alone.

 

He says there are another 2,300 who were rejected because their school was not on the list.

 

Whitefish maintains that many of the reduced payments, pending payments, and rejections are due to poor record keeping on the part of the federal government.

 

He says the FSIN wants to meet with Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl about this issue as soon as possible.