Canadian Catholics on the hook for $80M

Legal representative is pleased with settlement

By DEBORAH GYAPONG
Canadian Catholic News
Winnipeg

Catholic faithful will need to dig deep to help fund the $80 million 41 Catholic entities must deliver as part of a recent comprehensive agreement to compensate Aboriginal Canadians who attended residential schools.

"That's a huge amount of money," said Winnipeg Archbishop James Weisgerber, pointing out much of it will come from religious orders that fund many projects for poor and vulnerable people.

"That money (for the poor) is going to dry up," he told the Canadian Church Press Convention May 4.

Speaking in his own name and not on behalf of the archdiocese or the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), Weisgerber predicted the settlement is going to "immensely weaken the Catholic Church."

One casualty is the image, perception and reputation of the Church, he said, noting that the Church is perceived today as not only irrelevant, but also harmful because of a simplistic narrative that blames the residential schools for all the ills facing native peoples.

The entities - dioceses and religious orders - have agreed to come up with $29 million in cash within five years, and $25 million of "in-kind services."

Those services include counselling programs, help for children with fetal alcohol syndrome, and the highly successful Return to the Spirit program that helps former students and residential school teachers find reconciliation.

The entities must also raise another $25 million within 10 years. The Anglicans, Presbyterians and the United Church will also contribute a total of $40 million.

The federal government will provide $2.2 billion in compensation, averaging $25,000 per student. Weisgerber pointed out the legal fees alone for the agreement amount to $80 million, a fact seldom mentioned in news articles.

He also noted that the additional funds promised in last year's Kelowna Accord for housing, clean water and education for native peoples were gutted in the recent federal budget.

Saskatoon lawyer Rod Levy who represented the Catholic entities told CCN he is pleased with the settlement.

"All around this is the best resolution," he said. "The churches have stepped up to the plate and tried to move forward."

He said the entities have promised the $29 million in cash, and whether that money has already been set aside or will come from the sale of property, he does not know.

The entities are in the process of evaluating the monetary value of in-kind services they already provide or will provide in the future, he said.

Donlevy said various organizations have already paid about $7.5 million in direct compensation for proven cases of sexual or physical abuse.

"I don't think any of the Church organizations have ever walked away when there has been valid proof of a serious physical assault or a sexual assault," he said.

Donlevy objects, however, to claims of cultural genocide against the schools or abuse charges "because somebody got their knuckles rapped or ears pulled."

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