The Supreme Court of Canada gave the federal government a break October 21 on just how much it is responsible for residential school abuses in Vancouver. The feds are now on the hook for 75 per cent, not the 100 per cent as previously ruled by a lower court.
Six Aboriginal students claimed they were abused by a dormitory supervisor from the 1940s to the 1960s in a case that centres around the Port Alberni Indian Residential School on Vancouver Island.
The Supreme Court voted unanimously to overturn a BC Appeals Court ruling that the United Church has immunity from liability in cases of church-run residential school abuse.
The court ruled the church was responsible for 25 per cent of the liability and the federal government 75 per cent.
The ruling also found them jointly responsible; if the church goes bankrupt, the government will be on the hook for the full 100 per cent.
