Antoinette Lafleur waited for most of her life for this day.
The survivor and Elder of à-la-Crosse survivor and Elder was present on Monday to hear that the federal government had signed an agreement of $ 27 million in principle with the survivors of the school.
“I endured because I could tell my story that I had been hidden for so many years,” Lefleur said at a press conference at île-à-La-Crosse.
Lafleur said he never told his children about the abuse he suffered at school.
“I have waited 77 years for this moment to happen.”
The agreement also comes with a personal apology from the federal government and an additional inherited fund of $ 10 million to be used for cultural, language and treatment programs.
The internship île-à-Crosse, in the town of île-à-La-Crosse about 460 kilometers north of Saskatoon, was one of the oldest of its kind in Canada and operated from the 1860s to the mid-1970s.
To the students to the students to the students of the Indian residential school that others received, on the basis that the school was directed by the Roman Catholic Church without federal funds.
Louis Gardner was sent to school when he was only five years old and was there from 1961 to 69.
Gardner said he is happy that the agreement comes with a personal apology.
“They used to force us to confess and tell your sins. Now we are telling them the same. Now you tell us your sins.”
Survivors have been fighting for an apology with federal and provincial governments during the last 20 years.
Gardner said that with many survivors they died, it was imperative to reach an agreement.
“We are losing the survivors at a fast pace, so we feel it is time to honor at least some of our survivors and take care of them in the way we should take care of them,” he said.
The Minister of Justice of Metis Nation-Saskatchewan, and vice president Michelle Leclair, said that the agreement is just a step towards reconciliation and justice.
“With this agreement with Canada, it is exciting, but we still have a lawsuit against the Saskatchewan government.”
Almost two decades after the survivors of the residential boarding school of î à-Crosse sued Ottawa, announced an agreement. The agreement includes $ 27.3 million for survivors or their families and additional $ 10 million for a community fund.
Leclair said that the federal government has accepted the 50 percent responsibility, and now the survivors want the province to come to the table and reach an agreement.
“There can never be a true reconciliation or justice for survivors until Saskatchewan meets their obligations in this file,” Leclair said.
The survivors and the federal government are now working to write the final conciliation agreement.
Leclair said they expect beneficiaries to have access to money at some point in this summer.
The survivor and Elder Emile Janvier said that nothing can compensate for what happened to the children at school.
“We go through hell just to get an education. We go through abuse, mental abuse, physical abuse and loneliness only to get an education,” said Janvier.
“No person should be treated like this … It also affects children.”
A national 24-hour Indian Residential School Crisis line is available in 1-866-925-4419 for emotional services and crisis reference for survivors and those affected.
