Métis, along with other Aboriginal peoples, are one step closer to putting the past behind them with the announcement of a government compensation agreement worth $2 billion for those who attended government-funded Indian Residential Schools. The agreement was negotiated between the government, church, and school organizations with the Merchant Law Group acting on behalf of the students.

More than 80,000 surviving Métis, Inuit and First Nations students will be able to apply for the lump sum funding of $10,000 per student – plus $3,000 for every year he or she was in residential school. The average payment per student is expected to be around $26,500, according to Tony Merchant, the head of Merchant Law Group.

Complainants over the age of 65 are offered a lump sum payment of $8,000 to fast-track the payment process. They will receive that amount in three to four months, and the rest of the money in six to eight months, says Merchant. Any former student alive on the date of May 30, 2005 is eligible for the payments that will be paid out by Services Canada.

“It’s a favourable settlement,” says Merchant. “Our agreement with the government is that our firm is paid a set fee no matter how many people we act for. The Métis need to know we will act for them without any charge…they get a lawyer for free.”

He says anyone who is eligible for the compensation should contact his office through its website at www.merchantlaw.com, by toll-free line at 1-888-567-7777, or for a local contact, call Matthew Merchant in Calgary at (403) 225-7777.

“There’s a lot of money that people can obtain,” he says. “People need to get registered.” And, there are a lot of eligible Metis. According to the Canadian government website there were 24 recorded Indian Residential Schools in Alberta alone.

However, Métis students who attended residential schools that were funded privately by religious organizations will not be eligible for compensation under the current agreement. And, because of that, Merchant launched on Friday, December 9, a class-action suit against the government’s partially funded Ile de La Crosse Residential School in Saskatchewan.

Merchant says all Métis should be compensated no matter what residential school they went to.

“We advocate that everyone who attended an Indian Residential Schools ought to receive compensation whether First Nations, Métis, or anybody else,” he says.

President Clément Chartier of the Métis National Council says the MNC is advocating all Métis who attended residential schools be awarded compensation regardless of who primarily funded the school.

“It is truly unfortunate that the federal government takes no responsibility for the residential schools established by the religious orders for Métis, although the Métis students suffered the same kinds of physical, mental, cultural and psychological abuse and indignities suffered by students who attended Indian Residential Schools, particularly since Canada allowed these institutions to operate,” says President Chartier.

Along with the $2 billion in funding to individual students, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation will also receive $125 million to heal those hurt or abused by residential schools.

AHF spokesperson Wayne Spear says the $125 million will work out to cover just three years of operating costs. “Our view is that this is another good step and we have made the case that the work we are doing is worthwhile,” Spear says.

Indian Residential schools – federally funded, but mostly run by Catholic, United, Anglican, and Presbyterian churches – allegedly performed many verbal, physical, and sexual abuses against students aged 4 to 16. There were an estimated 130 Residential Schools in Canada and they spanned the country everywhere except Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.