Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 29 "The reality is without the leadership and the significant risks taken by lawyers across the country these issues would not have seen the light of day. They would not necessarily have been brought to the courts and they would not have resulted in a settlement of this magnitude. So I think the lawyers need to be given a significant degree of credit for that." DAN SHAPIRO, IAP CHIEF ADJUDICATOR Ltd., the Residential School Healing Society of Canada, and Hands Free Office Services were also removed. The aim is to complete all its hearings by April 2016. Accord- ing to the IAP web site, as of April 30, 2015, the IAP secretariat had received 37,965 applications for compensation. More than 84 per cent (31,970) of the claims have been resolved, and $2.789 billion has been paid out in compensation by the federal govern- ment. After much debate on the issue, in August 2014, Justice Paul Perell of the Ontario Superior Court ordered the destruction of IAP records following a 15-year retention period, a decision Shapiro heralded as important to maintain the promise of confi- dentiality given to IAP claimants. Truth and Reconciliation When the settlements agreement was reached, one of the compo- nents included the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The TRC went across the country holding seven events that provided an opportunity for former students to share their stories. Sutter attended the Saskatchewan TRC event in the summer of 2013. No longer a reporter, he was still very much interested in learning and listening to the stories from these former students. "These people wanted to talk, they wanted to tell their story, they wanted to be heard. And that's the value, that's part of the healing process. That's the value of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission," says Sutter. "It just allowed people to be heard. The stories are now real and are no longer invisible." Aside from offering an opportunity for former students to continue with their healing process, the TRC also helped to educate the public about the schools. "Indian residential schools weren't even on the radar screen for most Canadians. Very few people outside of the native community, the federal government, the churches, or those who were employed in those schools were even aware of the existence of Indian residential schools, and that certainly applied to lawyers and judges," says Regina's Scott. "There were no Saskatchewan-based Indian residential school lawsuits when I got involved. I think there were only a handful of lawsuits in all of Canada. None of those lawsuits outside of Saskatchewan were being actively pushed forward." Shapiro says lawyers and their law firms did a lot of work in advancing the residential school cause by bringing it into the public eye. "Members of the public . . . are often critical of lawyers. The reality is without the leadership and the significant risks taken by lawyers across the country these issues would not have seen the light of day," says Shapiro. "They would not necessarily have been brought to the courts and they would not have resulted in a settlement of this magnitude. So, I think the lawyers need to be given a significant degree of credit for that." Shapiro says lawyers had to face huge issues including taking on church entities, the federal government, vicarious liability, and time limits. There were no judgements to refer to and at the time it was a very up-in-the-air question, Scott says about what he faced when he started the original claims. "And there were very few judgements involving the responsibility of an employer for the wrongful actions of its employees; more importantly, whether an employer might be responsible for the sexual misconduct of its employee." Despite the hard work and challenges, Scott can now put the cases into perspective. "It was the highlight of my career," he says. "It laid the groundwork for everything that followed. I do recall being told the Gordon Indian Residential School litigations led the way in Canada when it came to residential schools. There is a sense of professional satisfaction." Sutter agrees that those first cases laid the groundwork. "Those stories started the flood gates. It's not breaking the news because those stories were out there for years, but nobody really listened to the whole story." Sutter quotes Mark Kindrachuck, a lawyer for the federal Department of Justice, who was up against Scott at that time. "This is really the first case of this kind the federal government has had to deal with and I think it could be the tip of a very large iceberg." Nobody could have predicted the size or the magnitude the Indian residential school experience would have on the Canadian public and the country's legal profession. About 253 law firms have been involved with 365 lawyers handling active IAP claims. As of the end of June, $2.8 billion has been paid out through the process. During the Saskatoon Truth and Reconciliation event, Sunchild was walking to her car when one of the volunteers in a golf cart pulled up and offered her a ride. Sunchild was curious why this "Caucasian" man was helping out at the event and why he was interested in residential schools. The man told her he used to work in northern Saskatchewan's forest. One day he was doing some work near a lake and he saw all these people gather at a dock. He told Sunchild he saw these people come across the lake in boats with their children. He then saw some more people come out of the bush with children. Then these yellow school buses pulled up to the dock. The parents hugged their children saying their goodbyes and the children got on the buses. After the buses left, the man could hear the parents crying until their cries faded away as they crossed the lake returning home. Sunchild says the man telling the story told her he witnessed something really terrible and it stayed with him his entire life. "He didn't know what it was until he started hearing about residential schools," says Sunchild.

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