First Nations

Residential school survivors targeted for payments

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Former students of Native residential schools have been offered loans, cars and big-ticket items now that their settlement checks are coming in.

Stella Smoke, who lives on the Dakota Plains Reserve in Manitoba, said she is sick of the calls. "I think they must just be guessing, unless they're getting the information off somebody," she told The Globe and Mail.

A car dealership in Regina, Saskatchewan, put up a sign that said "We Welcome First Nations." But the owner was forced to take it down after complaints from the public.

"The whole of Saskatchewan knows this is going on with the residential schools money," the owner, who declined to give his name, said. "Fifty per cent of our business is with these cultures, and we were just trying to say, 'Welcome, come on in, look around, meet our staff.'

Each former student receives a $10,000, plus $3,000 for each additional year in school.

Get the Story:
Businesses eye natives' settlement money (The Globe and Mail 12/6)

Relevant Links:
Residential Schools Claims - http://www.residentialschools.ca
Assembly of First Nations - http://www.afn.ca
Indian Residential Schools Resolution Department - http://www.irsr-rqpi.gc.ca/english