Residential school survivor remains unsatisfied

Residential school survivor remains unsatisfied

Monday, November 17, 2003 at 13:20

 

 

The latest attempt by Ottawa to correct past injustices at residential schools falls far short according to a former resident in Prince Albert.

 

Emil (A-mill) Highway attended Guy Hills residential school in Saskatchewan and Manitoba for almost a decade. He says he spent many lonely nights looking at a nearby river through the school’s fence and wondering how his parents were doing.

 

Highway explains that’s one of the reasons why he has

trouble with Ottawa’s Dispute Resolution Form, a paper intended to settle claims out of court.

 

Highway says there is some advantage to not having to

retell experiences of abuse to government-appointed lawyers, but he takes issue with the form’s “points system” for compensation – which some critics

say amounts to nothing more than a meat chart.

 

He adds no amount of money will ever fix the loss of pride or sense of shame the schools inflicted on victims like himself but it is a starting point.

 

He says his father died without ever receiving anything for his claim.

 

Highway hopes fellow survivors seek out advice and take the road they feel is right, even if that includes litigation.