St. Anne's survivor awarded $72K after review of denied abuse claim is still fighting

WARNING: This story contains details of abuse of children at residential schools

For the residential school survivor known only as claimant T-00185, justice has been elusive.

He alleged in 2009 under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement assessment process that he had been sexually abused by two older boys at the notorious St. Anne's Indian Residential School, which operated between 1906 and 1976 in Fort Albany, Ont. His claim was rejected.

That claim was heard, however, before Canada was forced to release roughly 12,000 police records and court documents containing evidence of rampant physical and sexual abuse at the Catholic-run institution.

T-00185 was the lone survivor awarded compensation after a court-ordered review concluded 11 student-on-student abuse claims may have been impacted by Canada's non-disclosure, CBC Indigenous has learned.

His lawyer says, despite receiving $72,000 in July 2023, this survivor's fight isn't done yet.

"He was not involved whatsoever" in the review itself, said Ottawa-based Fay Brunning, who represents a group of St. Anne's survivors in court.

"He, and we, still say it's not the correct amount. There was no re-hearing."

T-00185 belongs to a small group fighting in Ontario Superior Court to hold Canada accountable for allegedly suppressing evidence during compensation hearings held between 2006 and 2014. 

He can't be named because the compensation process is confidential.

The group wants the court to hold Canada in breach of the 2014 court order requiring it to disclose these documents, and they also want to reopen potentially impacted claims.

In response, the Liberal government has asked the court to dismiss the request on procedural and technical grounds. The judge has reserved his decision.

"It's difficult to even think that you're going to get something out of the system," said Edmund Metatawabin, former chief of Fort Albany First Nation and spokesman for the group, in an interview this week. 

"It's difficult. But you wouldn't be doing your job, your responsibility, if you didn't at least bring it forward."

He said student-on-student abuse was a learned behaviour. Children learned it from religious authority figures who were supposed to care for them but instead sexually exploited them, then threatened them into silence.

Many survivors carried feelings of fear, guilt and shame with them into adulthood — and some would still turn cold at the sight of their now-frail abusers, Metatawabin said.

"That's how much fear that we have about them, because they give us their guilt, and we take our guilt as if it was our fault that all this stuff happened," he said.

"So it's very, very, very difficult to do this on your own."

About more than money, says lawyer

In 2021, the Liberal government sought a court-ordered review of 427 abuse claims made in connection with St. Anne's, which identified the 11 cases in need of further review.

Brunning, however, described that as a "whitewash process" that excluded the survivors. The group tried to appeal but the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear their case. Now, it's back to the lower court.

"It's not done, and St. Anne's survivors are resilient, strong people and they want their rights enforced," said Brunning.

"And for T-00185, yeah he got paid $72,000 but he's not opting out because this is about more than just money."

That award came to light through a September 2024 question period note prepared for Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree. According to the government, the additional compensation was awarded essentially because of an error by an adjudicator. 

"No compensation was awarded for any document-related issues," wrote spokesperson Jacinthe Goulet in a statement.

Brunning contests that position, arguing that T-00185 may have been entitled to more money if his claim was heard with the proper documents available.

She said he always maintained the worst thing that happened to him was years of abuse by Sister Anna Wesley, a nun with the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa. But when compensation hearings began, the government produced a false report on her.

"It looked like she was a lovely nun," said Brunning. 

In reality, the Justice Department had nearly 7,000 pages of records indicating Wesley was a cruel abuser.

Witnesses testified in her 1999 criminal trial that Wesley beat the children and forced them to eat their own vomit in front of their peers when they couldn't stomach their required dose of cod liver oil.

She was convicted of three counts of assault and three counts of administering a noxious substance.

Student-on-student cases should have been admitted, says lawyer

In 2009, T-00185 was believed about the abuse but had no evidence to prove the supervisors knew or ought to have known and failed to address it, which was required under the process, Brunning said. 

If all the documents were handed over, they would have shown a group of 10 boys went to the bishop in 1967 and told him Oblate priest Father Arthur Lavoie was sexually touching the children, Brunning said.

But the official report on Lavoie, who died in 1992, omitted any allegation of abuse. In fact, there were 2,472 pages on him confirming he was a "serial sexual abuser," a 2015 court decision says.

Had it been disclosed that the bishop was told and did nothing — other than just telling the children "it's the fatherly way" — the outcome may have been different, the lawyer added.

"When you go right to the top and you see that the supervisors are a bunch of pedophiles and they're engaging in this, to me, every student-on-student abuse claim probably should have been admitted right from the beginning."

The survivors say somewhere between between 166 and 250 claimants may have had their rights breached. Canada says 96 per cent of abuse claims tied to St. Anne's were compensated and none were denied because of withheld documents.

Support is available for anyone affected by their experience at residential schools or by the latest reports.

A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for survivors and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419.

Mental health counselling and crisis support is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or by online chat at www.hopeforwellness.ca.