Archbishop Peers, members of the entire family of the Anglican Church of Canada, Mr. Stagg, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
The Chinese have a saying about how even the longest and most complicated of journeys begins with a single step. Today we do mark a major milestone along a major journey. We are not nearly done yet but progress has been made and I think back to the single step that began it.
Facing a flood of slow, difficult and expensive litigation flowing from physical and sexual abuses at Indian residential schools, those run by churches with the Government of Canada, we together were confronted with a most unseemly situation. Apologies were issued, a healing foundation was established, other good work was done but still victims with valid claims were not receiving timely justice, settlements or healing. Enormous resources were being squandered on legal fees, some of it purely in an argument about apportionment among defendants.
Time was passing by, victims were literally dying, smaller and poorer church entities faced the prospect of disappearance. Efforts at collective negotiated solutions had stalled and then some 15 months ago Archbishop Peers and his Anglican colleagues said enough, this is not what a church is about. That was the single step, a very crucial step, setting aside legal niceties, the assumption of shared responsibility for a tragic era, a practical agreement on apportionment, 70% for the Government of Canada, 30% for the church with a cap at 25 million dollars and a plan to work together to resolve painful human issues of extreme importance and great delicacy.
Not the ending of a journey as the Archbishop has said but a very large step forward. This past year since that first step was taken, it has not been easy or simple or comfortable.
As I said elsewhere, the Anglican Church in my judgement has demonstrated extraordinary moral courage and leadership. It involved cost and risks, it might have failed, it required 30 dioceses to agree from coast to coast to coast but in the end 30 out of 30 is a fine achievement.
I applaud you again Archbishop and all of your colleagues for what you have done and for your solidarity. As a result all those victims with valid claims of sexual and/or physical abuse at Anglican run schools will all be paid 100% of the appropriate compensation and no Anglican Church entity will have to go it alone risking extinction one by one. That’s the value of a collective team Anglican approach.
Our agreement now ratified is a powerful one. Together we have built a solid platform to support a vigorous, constructive, productive and ongoing relationship. We have a lot of work yet to do. Following the Anglican agreement in principle, a similar agreement was negotiated and signed by the Presbyterian Church in Canada. We hope to enter talks very soon with the United Church and we are exploring ways to make progress too with the Roman Catholic Church.
By ending the debate among lawyers about apportionment, our agreement with the Anglican Church allows each of us to focus and to focus together and entirely upon what’s most important, the full and timely settlement of valid claims in the quickest, safest and most efficient manner and the opening of new pathways toward justice, healing and reconciliation for all.
These are our goals with all the churches and in a newly proposed settlement framework which provides alternative dispute resolution options and let me just say this about those options. Yes, we want to save on administration and on time and on process and certainly on legal fees.
We want to save victims some of the pain of full litigation but let me be very clear, we do not want to save on the full compensation required to settle valid claims. We want our ADR options to generate the same compensation values as formal court proceedings only faster, more efficiently and more humanely and I also note the commitment of the Government of Canada over this next decade to some 470 million dollars for Aboriginal languages and culture initiatives.
Again I salute the ground breaking work of the Anglican Church. I thank you for that brave first step and now I would invite the Primate Michael Peers, Archdeacon Jim Boyles, Mr. Jack Stagg, the Deputy Minister of lndian Residential Schools Resolution Canada and other dignitaries and officials here today to join me in the formal signing of the documents.
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