The Indian Residential School
Settlement Agreement
From the 1860s to the 1990s, more than 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children were required to attend Indian Residential Schools operated by religious organizations and funded by the Government of Canada. Thousands of these children were abused physically, emotionally, and sexually while at residential schools. A number of individual and class actions were brought by survivors of residential schools.
In 2006, an agreement was reached and class actions in nine provinces and territories were consolidated into a single action. The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (“IRSSA”), which is a comprehensive settlement of that class action, sought to achieve a fair, comprehensive and lasting resolution of the legacy of Indian Residential Schools and to promote healing, education, truth and reconciliation and commemoration by, among other things, financially compensating former students of residential schools.
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- Canada (Attorney General) v. Fontaine, 2017 SCC 47