Tories Renege On Boarding School Election Promise
Friday, January 19, 2007 at 14:44
It appears the Conservative government is prepared to step away from Stephen Harper’s election promise regarding former students of the boarding school in Ile-a-la-Crosse.
Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice has told CBC Radio that the Tories likely won’t honour Harper’s pledge to compensate those students like residential school survivors.
Prentice says when the Conservatives made that promise last year, they didn’t have all the facts on the case.
He argues they’ve since learned the Ile-a-la-Crosse boarding school was run by the provincial government, and, therefore, doesn’t qualify under terms of the residential school compensation agreement.
But Metis National Council president Clem Chartier says the Tories never should never have made that promise if they were eventually going to “come up with excuses”.
He says they made the commitment to encourage voter support, and it’s now time to live up to that commitment.
Chartier also says Harper’s pledge still leaves room for the government to compensate the Ile-a-la-Crosse survivors through a distinct settlement package.
Meanwhile, Ile-a-la-Crosse Metis leader Don Favel says he’s disappointed, but not surprised.
Favel says, at the very least, the Metis survivors know where the government stands on the issue, noting this is the first time the Tories have publicly commented on the matter since the election.
Regina lawyer Tony Merchant has launched a class-action lawsuit against both levels of government on behalf of the boarding school victims.