wfn.org | Episcopalians: Anglican Church of Canada and government ready to settle lawsuits

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

November 21, 2002

2002-266

Episcopalians: Anglican Church of Canada and government ready 
to settle lawsuits

by James Solheim

(ENS) After years of controversy and faced with bankruptcy, the 
Anglican Church of Canada has agreed to a deal with the Canadian 
government to share the costs of thousands of lawsuits brought 
by Native students who claim abuse while attending residential 
schools.

Under the agreement, the church would contribute up to $16 
million (US) and the government would pay the rest. Total costs 
could reach $1 billion. 

About 12,000 of the 90,000 former students have filed claims 
alleging physical or sexual abuse while in the boarding schools, 
owned by the government but run by the Anglican, Roman Catholic, 
Presbyterian and United Churches from the 1930s until most were 
closed by the mid-1970s.

Anglicans have been named in about 18 percent of the abuse 
cases while Roman Catholics are named in 73 percent, United 
Church 8 percent and Presbyterians 1 percent. The agreement with 
the government includes only the Anglicans at this point.

"The agreement preserves the financial integrity of the 
Anglican Church," said Ralph Goodale, the federal minister 
responsible for resolving the claims. "Instead of meeting each 
other in court, Canada and the Anglican Church can focus our 
efforts together to settle the thousands of outstanding claims 
in a more supportive way for victims. This historic agreement 
allows the government and church to move beyond the debate of 
who pays what."

Goodale said that the "moral leadership shown by the Anglican 
Church in accepting the responsibility to the former students of 
the Anglican residential schools has opened the door to this 
agreement."

Archbishop Michael Peers, primate of the Anglican Church of 
Canada, said that the $16 million cap exceeds the assets of the 
national church and it is likely that more wealthy dioceses will 
be asked to make contributions. The agreement now goes to the 30 
dioceses for ratification.

"It makes no sense to bankrupt us," Peers said at a news 
conference. "The minute we go bankrupt, the government has to 
pay 100 percent." He said that he had participated in "healing 
circles and heard of the painful stories of abuse. By entering 
this agreement, we are saying that we have heard those stories, 
that we acknowledge our tragic part in them."

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--James Solheim is director of Episcopal News Service. This 
article is based on press reports in the Toronto Star and 
UPI.