Ben Piper

Former students of two residential schools brought a Request for Directions under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement alleging failures in Canada's document disclosure and reporting obligations in the Independent Assessment Process.

After partial success on the merits, the court addressed the issue of costs.

The applicants sought full indemnity costs exceeding $143,000, while Canada argued for partial indemnity costs in the range of $15,000 to $20,000.

The court held that costs under the IRSSA involve a special discretionary framework reflecting the reconciliation objectives of the settlement agreement.

Balancing success on the motion, litigation conduct, and fairness considerations, the court awarded reduced costs of $78,089.95.

The applicants, former students of St. Anne's and Bishop Horden Indian Residential Schools, brought a Request for Directions asserting that Canada failed to comply with its report writing obligations under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

They sought orders requiring Canada to revise School Narratives and Person of Interest Reports, and to provide unredacted source documents to adjudicators and claimants.

The court found that Canada's updated reports for St. Anne's did not comply with the Agreement and ordered Canada to revise them to include a detailed chart of abuse allegations and corresponding documents.

The court also ordered Canada, on consent, to provide unredacted copies of publicly available court records, but dismissed the request for unredacted copies of other documents, citing privacy safeguards in the Agreement.