c. 1998 Religion News Service

VANCOUVER, B.C. _ A precedent-setting agreement between the Roman Catholic Church, the federal government and 10 native Indian men who were sexually abused as students at a Canadian residential school is being hailed as opening the door to early resolution of more than 1,600 similar lawsuits.

All sides are cheering the out-of-court settlement, announced Tuesday (Nov. 3), as a”historical breakthrough.” It marks the first time the Canadian federal government, a religious denomination and native Indians have found a way to resolve one of the flood of civil lawsuits natives have launched over the way they were treated in the country’s residential-school system.

“This is all good,” said the Rev. Vincent LaPlante, spokesman for the Oblate brothers who ran St. Joseph’s residential school near Williams Lake, in the British Columbia Interior, where dozens of young native boys were allegedly abused by church workers in the 1950s and 1960s.

The last of Canada’s 130 church-run residential schools for natives, which aimed to replace traditional native ways and religion with European culture, were shut down in the 1980s.

The settlement _ which was reached just before a court case was to start in Vancouver _ includes an undisclosed financial payout to the native men and apologies from the Catholic church, Oblate Brothers and federal government.

All the parties have also agreed to take part in a healing circle, which will be held in Alkali Lake, British Columbia, near the defunct residential school. The native Indian healing circle ritual will be held in conjunction with the official blessing of the native village’s newly renovated Catholic church.

Shawn Tupper, the federal government’s senior policy adviser on native issues, said he believes the out-of-court settlement in the St. Joseph’s case will lead to the early resolution of numerous other potentially lengthy residential school lawsuits.

“The bottom line is that all the parties were able to find some common ground so that we can get on with the healing of the victims,”Tupper said.”We want to allow these guys to get on with the closure they seek.” Each month native Indians across Canada are filing more lawsuits claiming damages for sexual, physical and emotional abuse they say they endured in native residential schools.

The residential-school system was financed by the federal government and run by various Christian denominations, particularly the Roman Catholic church, and to a lesser extent the United and Anglican churches.”We’re all happy about this agreement,”Laplante said.”We know the past can’t be changed, but we can do something for the future. The native people want to rebuild and restore the good relationship with the Catholic church that was there for about 125 years.” The 10 complainants in the lawsuit settled this week charged they had been sexually abused at St. Joseph’s residential school by either Oblate brother Len Doughty or Harold McIntee. The 10 men, plus the estate of another victim who committed suicide, claimed damages for both sexual assault and the residential school’s general attack on native culture.

Former Bishop Hubert O’Connor, head of the diocese of Prince George, was principal of St. Joseph’s at the time Doughty and McIntee worked there.

O’Connor _ who recently had several sex convictions related to St. Joseph’s overturned on appeal _ was accused in the native men’s lawsuit of ignoring complaints they were being assaulted while sleeping, working and taking classes at St. Joseph’s.

The native men’s lawyer, Don Sorochan, said the negotiations that led to the Catholic church and federal government accepting “vicarious liability” for the sexual assaults came about largely because of the negotiating efforts of British Columbia Supreme Court Chief Justice Bryan Williams.

Sorochan, LaPlante and Tupper also said they were impressed by how the native complainants were not seeking vengeance, but wanted to put the case behind them.

DEA END TODD