Indian Day School Webpage launched

06/05/2019

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke wishes to inform the community that it has launched a webpage dedicated to archiving the most up to date information on the Indian Day School Class Action Settlement and the resources available in Kahnawà:ke pertaining to this issue. Between 1868 and 1988, there were a total of eleven (11) Indian Day Schools in Kahnawà:ke.

The address of the webpage is www.kahnawake.com/indiandayschool.

The Indian Day School Class Action Settlement was initiated in 2009 by several Indigenous people who suffered severe abuses by attending Indian Day Schools in their respective communities. On March 12, 2019, the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada announced that an agreement in principle was signed by the Federal Government and the Law Firm representing this case (Gowling WLG) in order to compensate Indian Day School Survivors.

The Federal Court Hearings on this issue occurred between May 13-15, 2019, where Gowling WLG litigated this case in order to have the Federal Judge formally approve this class action settlement. At present, the federal judge’s decision is pending. Once a decision is rendered, communications to the community will be put forth on the next steps on how to make a claim for compensation.”

For more information, please contact Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke Project Leaders Katsistohkwí:io Jacco (katsistohkwiio.jacco@mck.ca) or Dennis Diabo (dennis.diabo@mck.ca) at 450-632-7500.