Two B.C. bands sue on behalf of residential day students

Two First Nations in British Columbia are taking the federal government to court on behalf of all the former day students of the country’s notorious residential school system.

The Tk’emlups te Secwepemc (Kamloops) and Shishalh (Sechelt) bands are asking permission of the Federal Court to launch a class-action lawsuit representing aboriginal children who attended residential schools during the day and returned to their family homes at night.

“Every single one of them has a story similar to the people who resided in the schools,” said plaintiff Garry Feschuk, a Shishalh councillor and former chief, who is married to a former day student.

“I really believe it’s time that these people are heard and we start to heal our people.”

Three separate class-action suits are being considered by the court: one for former day students, one for descendants of former day students and one for bands impacted by members who attended residential schools as day students.

The certification hearing starts Monday and is scheduled to last all this week, the allegations of which have not been proven in court.

Feschuk said he expects a decision to be reached by September.

In 2008, the Canadian government issued a formal apology for its historic role in the residential school system, but that did not include compensation for the day students who attended the schools alongside live-in students.

The lawsuit alleges day students suffered the same loss of cultural connection and language as their residential counterparts, who did receive compensation.