Valerie G. Barnes Connell Jordan
Northern Advocate
Michelle LeClair, vice-president of Métis Nation-Saskatchewan, has announced the signing of an Agreement in Principle between the ILEX (Ile-a-la-Crosse) Survivor’s Committee and Canada.
The agreement involves two “compensatory components” under the Agreement term: “Experience payments for Survivors,” with the total being 27,355 million and, a “Legacy Fund” of $10 million, which will be operated by a Not-for-Profit Group and invested.
“It will fund projects to address healing, wellness, education, language, culture and commemoration for Survivors and Intergenerational Survivors,” according to the news release.
LeClair said she hopes money will be in the hands of Survivors by mid-summer. The Agreement with Canada is part of the work the Committee is doing, but the other piece is going after the Province of Saskatchewan as well, which is work that will be continuing into the future, she said during the press conference.
“It has been a long road to get to this point today,” MN-S President Glen McCallum said in the news release. “We are proud of all the work the committee has done in the best interests of the Survivors. Since the first pivotal meeting with Métis Nation-Saskatchewan (MN-S) in 2017. MN-S elected officials, legal counsel and employees have all worked tirelessly to support the committee. We also recognize those who’ve come before us and worked on this file over the years as well as the many Survivors that we lost while they awaited justice. We remember them and their resilience today.”
Speaking to those gathered in Ile-a-la-Crosse (ILEX) for the announcement, Elder Antoinette LeFleur shared her experience of travelling to Rome to meet with the Pope, to New York and the United Nations, along with other places, including Nunavut. She said it made her happy, because she got to share her story, which she kept in secret for many years.
LaFleur is a member of the Survivor’s Committee. She shared a prayer with those gathered to begin the ceremony to announce the Agreement.
“I was only barely five years old when I went to the school, which was 76 years ago – it took that long to hear what I heard today,” she said in a press release.
“This is a historic step on the journey to justice and reconciliation for school survivors,” reads a United4Survivors’ news release, dated March 3, 2025.
Ile-a-la-Crosse is the second oldest community in Saskatchewan, with Cumberland House being the oldest.
One of the oldest such schools in Canada, the Ile-a-la-Crosse Boarding School was established in the 1820s, and ran until the mid 1970s, according to the news release. It was also funded by both Canada and the Province of Saskatchewan.
“Thousands of Métis children were removed from their loving homes and forced to assimilate. Many were well under the age of ten, forbidden to see brothers and sisters attending the same school, prevented from speaking their native tongue, and coerced into learning English.
“We went through hell just to bet an education. We sent through abuse, mental abuse, physical abuse and the loneliness just to get an education … no person should treated like that … it affects the children too,” Elder Emile Janvier, a survivor of the school, said in the news release.
The release of the Agreement brings mixed feelings. For Louis Gardiner, a Survivor and Committee member, there is also sadness.
“We’re losing the survivors at a rapid pace and so we just feel that it’s time to at least honour some of our survivors and look after them the way we should be looking after them and respect that… I guess based on that … we find this one of the first steps in justice … in healing for us,” he said in the news release.
“There can never be true reconciliation or justice for the Survivors until Saskatchewan fulfils its obligation on this file. After such a tumultuous journey, at least Canada has stepped forward with something. We’re relieved for our Survivors and hope they can at least start the healing process,” said MN-S Vice President Michelle LeClair, who was instrumental in leading the MN-S on this on this Agreement.
