In-person support sessions for claimants in a $1 billion Canada-wide class action settlement are coming to Edmonton this week.<\/p>\n
The support is part of a rollout of payments that follow an agreement reached last summer, where the federal government will pay between $10,000 and $200,000 to eligible survivors who suffered abuse while admitted to former federal hospitals for Indigenous patients.<\/p>\n
From Tuesday until Saturday, people interested in filing a claim will be able to get in-person help at the Royal Hotel West. Sessions will run from noon until 7 p.m. each day except the final day, which will start at 10 a.m.<\/p>\n
Jill McLean, the executive lead on the Federal Indian Hospitals Support Program, said these will be low-pressure sessions with trained claims helpers who can answer questions, explain eligibility, and help people complete claim forms. There will also be wellness and cultural supports available on-site.<\/p>\n
“This process is inherently really hard for folks. Some people might be going back into their histories, telling the stories of what happened for the first time,” McLean said.<\/p>\n
If people aren’t able to access the sessions, McLean said other supports will be available online as well. Applications are currently open until July 27, 2028.<\/p>\n
McLean said there has been misinformation and mistrust surrounding settlements in the past, and in some cases, fraudsters have been asking for money. She warned to be on the lookout for scams, and that all support services will be free of charge.<\/p>\n
‘How they were treated can only be imagined’<\/p>\n
Edmonton is a notable city when it comes to the history of segregated hospitals in Canada. It was the site of one of Canada’s largest segregated health-care facilities, the Charles Camsell Indian Hospital.<\/p>\n
Miranda Jimmy, a community researcher and a member of Thunderchild First Nation, helps survivors and others access records related to the Camsell hospital and also residential schools.<\/p>\n
She said thanks to the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, many are familiar with the history of residential schools. However, there was also a segregated health-care system that worked in conjunction, which many are still unaware of.<\/p>\n
“Both were colonial institutions that were intended to mistreat and treat Indigenous people as different, and as incapable of making their own decisions,” said Jimmy.<\/p>\n
While there was similar racial and cultural abuse to residential schools, Jimmy said many survivors of the hospitals faced medical abuse and experimentation.<\/p>\n
Class counsel representative on the settlement, Steven Cooper, said there were 33 hospitals associated with the case, and they were all quite different from each other. Still, many started out as facilities to treat tuberculosis.<\/p>\n
But Cooper said class actions still don’t solve every problem associated with an institution and system, especially when they result in settlements. When it comes to this settlement, medical malpractice couldn’t be included as a factor.<\/p>\n
The settlement specifically covers psychological, verbal, physical and sexual abuse.<\/p>\n
Jimmy said for many, payments aren’t the only form of justice. Often, people are looking for understanding the truth behind what happened to them, or their family and community members.<\/p>\n
Many who experienced these hospitals were infants or children at the time of admission, and Jimmy said memories from that time are often foggy. Having records that document those experiences is crucial.<\/p>\n
In many cases, they have been destroyed, and even when they are available, the language is harsh and derogatory towards the patients. Jimmy said what was actually being said and done to patients off the page likely would have been much worse.<\/p>\n
“How they were treated can only be imagined.”<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n
lnewbigging@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n @liamnewbigging.bsky.social<\/a><\/p>\n x.com\/nubigin<\/a><\/p>\n Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know \u2014 add EdmontonJournal.com<\/a> and EdmontonSun.com<\/a> to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.<\/a><\/p>\n You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal<\/a> | The Edmonton Sun.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In-person support sessions for claimants in a $1 billion Canada-wide class action settlement are coming to Edmonton this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[54432,54433,1772,52,54435,54434,15345,15260,54436],"class_list":["post-170019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-charles-camsell-hospital","tag-class-action-settlement","tag-david-bloom","tag-edmonton","tag-indigenous-patients","tag-miranda-jimmy","tag-residential-schools","tag-settlement","tag-steven-cooper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}