Group demands more residential school files

The Assembly of First Nations and a lawyer representing some survivors of Canada’s residential schools are set to ask a judge Wednesday to order Ottawa to search further for documents related to abuse that victims suffered in the schools.

The First Nations umbrella group wants all federal departments and agencies seareched for the records, while Ottawa lawyer Fay Brunning, who is representing nine former attendees of one particular school in Ontario, wants the search to “at least’’ involve the RCMP, Health Canada and Department of Justice.

“The RCMP had jurisdiction over the vast majority of Indian residential schools in Canada when they were operating,’’ Brunning said.

The First Nations group, Brunning and lawyers representing the justice department and other interests are to argue the matter in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto Wednesday.

It’s not the first battle over records involving hearings related to the Truth and Reconciliation process.

After a protracted legal fight, thousands of documents from the 1990s detailing abuse at St. Anne’s residential school in northern Ontario, were handed over by Ottawa last June, following a judge’s order the previous January.

Five former employees at the school were convicted when the OPP investigated at the time. But prior to the judge’s order federal officials had initially stated there were no known incidents of sexual abuse there.

The Indian residential schools settlement agreement created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, where survivors of sexual and physical abuse in the now-defunct schools have told their stories.

The agreement also established an Independent Assessment Process, where survivors who suffered serious abuse have brought forward claims seeking compensation.