Utoo Radio with Other News Sources - March 3, 2025 - The Île-à-la-Crosse Boarding School Steering Committee has reached an agreement with the Canadian government to pay up to $27 million to survivors and a $10 million fund for projects addressing healing, education, language, and culture.

The agreement is a historic step towards justice and reconciliation for the school survivors, who have been haunted by years of physical, mental, and sexual abuse at the hands of school operators.

The school operated from the 1820s until it burned down in the 1970s, sending children from the Métis community of Île-à-la-Crosse and neighbouring First Nations in northwest Saskatchewan.

The committee filed a lawsuit against Ottawa and the Saskatchewan government in 2022 for their roles in operating the school and allegedly breaching legal duties to care for the children.

The steering committee is working on drafting a final agreement, which does not include claims of physical or sexual abuse and allows survivors to pursue those issues in the courts.