Shocked by court decision

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Chief Robert Joseph, executive director of the Provincial Residential School Project, said he was deeply shocked and outraged by what he called "the disturbing decision" handed down July 10 by B.C. Chief Justice Brenner in the Alberni Indian Residential School (AIRS) civil case.

The three-year-old civil trial involved seven First Nations individuals who sought damages from the government of Canada and the United Church of Canada as a result of experiencing childhood sexual abuse in the federal and church-run residential institution on Vancouver Island, which was closed in 1973.

"Evident in his dismissal of one plaintiff's case, and the unusually low awards in the remaining six, the chief justice has profoundly failed to deliver proper recompense to these courageous individuals, who brought their horror-filled stories of childhood sexual abuse at the residential school into the halls of the Canadian justice system," Joseph said.

The awards to the six plaintiffs range from $12,000 to $190,000. Arthur Plint, the perpetrator of the crimes, is responsible in the range of 13 to 25 per cent in each. The 82-year-old Plint is currently serving his 11-year sentence for more than 30 counts of physical and sexual abuse. Though he has served more than two-thirds of his sentence, he has been denied parole because, as stated in a parole board final report, "You do not accept responsibility for your offending. You remain an untreated sex offender and have no desire to participate in programming."

In law, the plaintiffs can collect Plint's portion of the compensation from the other defendants, who will have to sue Plint for recover the awards. But that may provide little comfort.

"It is apparent some of these people will receive little or no compensation after paying their legal costs," Joseph said. "Thus, this judgment shows how little value this B.C. Supreme Court case places on the lives of these people and the potential they had ripped away from them.

It is this particular aspect of the judgment which is extremely insulting to these plaintiffs, their families, their communities, and their nations and to all First Nations in Canada for the negative message it imparts."

But a strategy based on a questionable concept has played a role in a decision.

Joseph said the government of Canada and the United Church of Canada argued at trial that conditions at the school were so horrific the plaintiffs' past and present personal circumstances could not be avoided, whether or not they had been sexually assaulted.

"The application of this defence strategy in order to minimize their financial liability is depraved and morally indefensible," he added.

"The fact that the chief justice seems to have bought into this argument is equally disturbing and shows that Canadian society at the highest levels has not abandoned its abusive ways."

Joseph said the decision can be appealed and he hoped other victims won't be discouraged from seeking justice.

"While we at the Project share in the disappointment and abandonment experienced by the plaintiffs, we nevertheless still encourage all plaintiffs across the province and the country to strengthen their resolve in their courageous battle to receive proper acknowledgment from the federal government and the churches for their pain and suffering as a result of being interned in an Indian Residential School and subjected to these parties' various abuses. On that note, we support the AIRS plaintiffs in whatever decision they make, should they decide to appeal this court ruling or not," he said.