LLRIB lawyer Michael Sinwood outside a court date on the Timber Bay school matter. Photo by Manfred Joehnck.
The lawyer for the Lac La Ronge Indian band is confident about his chances after making a pitch to the court of appeal today, asking it to overturn a lower court ruling that prevented students at the Timber Bay school from being eligible for compensation under the residential school settlement.
Michael Swinwood says his documentation clearly shows the Indian Affairs department was calling the shots and as such former students should be compensated.
There were lots of questions from the three judge panel who heard the appeal.
“I must say we were heartened by the questions revolving around our arguments, “ he said.
There were two parts to Swinwoods arguments. One, to have the high court overturn the lower court ruling and secondly to allow the introduction of new evidence in the form of documents that Winwood says supports his claim that the Indian affairs department was running the school.
It was an important case for Percy Hunt, a former student of the school. He hitch-hiked all the way from Montreal Lake to be in Regina to hear the arguments.
“It is something I had to be here for,” he said. “It still really affects me to this day.”
The school opened in 1952 and was shut down in 1994. Thousands of students, mainly from the north attended the school and stayed at a boarding facility.
The crown argued, the school was not run by Indian affairs, that it was voluntary and it operated with the support and input of the Lac La Ronge Indian band.
It is asking the provinces highest court to uphold the 2013 decision by a Queen’s bench judge in Saskatoon who dismissed the case.
The appeal court has reserved its decision, but the justices were asking a lot of questions of both lawyers during the hearing.