The director of the Indian Residential Schools Secretariat says abuse at Canada’s residential schools may have been more widespread than what the government was expecting.
The department today released some information related to the compensation agreements made with former students.
Secretariat director Akivah Starkman says they initially expected 12,500 claims to be filed under the Independent Assessment Process.
However, he says they have received 28,000 claims so far — and that number could hit 30,000 before the deadline to file expires.
Of those claims, 16,000 have been completed with an average payout of $117,000.
In all, the federal government says it has paid out over $3.2 billion in settlement money to survivors of residential schools so far.
That figure includes $1.6 billion paid out through the Common Experience Payment and another $1.6 billion in claims filed under the IAP.
Officials are also reminding survivors that the deadline to apply for compensation under either process is September 19th.