Conservative ministers obstructed justice for St. Anne Residential school survivors

The Conservatives must answer for delaying justice for survivors of St. Anne’s Residential school, say New Democrats.

Survivors of St. Anne’s Residential school had to challenge the Conservative government’s attempt to suppress thousands of pages of police and court evidence documenting widespread physical and sexual abuse at the residential school on James Bay.

“The Conservative government has shown bad faith again and again to the survivors of St. Anne’s,” said NDP MP Charlie Angus (Timmins—James-Bay). “They have undermined the credibility of the Prime Minister’s apology. It is time to do the right thing.”

The court hearing was a result of a letter sent by Charlie Angus to Minister Valcourt last July that exposed the fact that the government failed to disclose this evidence.

“This Conservative government was busted and they knew it,” said Angus. “Why did they drag this out, spend thousands of tax-payers dollars and undermine the process when they knew they were playing fast and loose with the evidence while not meeting their legally mandated obligations?”

In the decision Justice Perell warns the Conservatives that if the Prime Minister’s apology to survivors of residential schools were to be taken seriously “the justness of the system of compensation for the victims must be protected.”