Residential School Abuse Gathering Underway

Residential School Abuse Gathering Underway

Tuesday, August 03, 2004 at 12:23

Hundreds of survivors of residential schools are at the Gordon First Nation for a 3-day national gathering, which began this morning.

One of the organizers, Eddie Bitternose, says the former residents of the schools will hear from lawyers and government representatives regarding various types of compensation.

Thousands of native people across the country say they suffered physical and sexual abuse while in the residential school system and are suing the government and the churches that ran the schools.

Bitternose says victims attending this week’s meeting will receive detailed information about the differences between a class-action lawsuit and a recently-launched dispute resolution process.

Newly-appointed Indian Affairs minister Andy Scott and Assembly of First Nations chief Phil Fontaine are scheduled to speak at this week’s gathering.