Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement
The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) is an agreement between the Government of Canada and approximately 86,000 Native Canadians who at some point were enrolled as children in the Canadian Indian residential school system, a system which was in place between 1879 and 1996. The IRSSA recognized the damage inflicted by the residential schools and established a $2 billion compensation package for all former IRS students and, in particular, those who had been abused or otherwise harmed. The agreement, announced in 2006, was the largest class action settlement in Canadian history. As of December 2012 a total of $1.62 billion has been paid to 78,750 former students.
El Retiro School for Girls
In 1956, Retiro was described as "an institution for youngsters who have run afoul of the law," and school Principal Robert Sayette said the girls were "social delinquents," not criminals, most of them being chronic truants, runaways and "incorrigibles." The school had a maximum capacity of 48, and in March 1956 there were 32 residents. There were no guards, but gates were locked and a watchman was on duty at night. Parents were allowed to visit once a month, and the girls could go home at most two days a month. They lived in three cottages, with a county probation officer as a "mother." They had access to a swimming pool, a softball field and a gymnasium that doubled as an auditorium. Besides academic subjects, they could learn homemaking, typing, crafts and journalism.