An NDP politician is blasting the federal government, accusing it of withholding information about abuses committed at a residential school in Ontario.
Charlie Angus is the NDP MP for Timmins, Ontario.
He says St. Anne’s Residential School has a dark reputation for the abuses committed on children while it was operating.
He says the Ontario Provincial Police conducted a lengthy investigation during the 1990’s on the school, and collected a lot of evidence about what went on there.
But he claims the Federal government has been stonewalling efforts by former students to have that evidence brought to light.
He says he’s not sure why Ottawa is doing this and claims the government initially told the public it didn’t have the documents which wasn’t the case.
“That Canada was a defendant in the case, Canada wanted to know how to protect itself. Meanwhile they told the people who were victimized that the evidence didn’t exist, or they couldn’t get access to it.”
He says he wants to know why the government didn’t turn over the documents to begin with.
When asked for a response the government sent this email to MBC news:
“Our Government takes our obligations under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement seriously and we continue to ensure that the Government fulfills its obligations under the Agreement. In order to bring clarity to the issue, the Minister has already sought direction from the Ontario Superior Court on whether the department can hand over these documents that would potentially breach privacy laws. We look forward to the court’s decision and will comply with the ruling.”