Former, current ministers won't say who dropped residential school case against Catholic Church

In the fall of 2015, someone in the federal government decided to drop a multimillion-dollar residential school compensation case against Catholic Church groups.

CBC News recently reached out to more than a dozen current or former ministers and senior bureaucrats. No one would say who gave the order, although several admit they likely have relevant information and documents that they refuse to share.

That includes both current Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller and Bernard Valcourt, who served as minister of aboriginal affairs and northern development in the Conservative government from February 2013 until his defeat in the October 2015 federal election, won by the Liberals.

Miller's director of communications, Renelle Arsenault, wrote in an email that a document requested by CBC News would not be provided because "it's secret." When asked to elaborate, she did not respond. Miller declined repeated interview requests.

Valcourt, reached this week by phone at his home in New Brunswick, was asked to provide his notes or emails from that period, but he declined.

"It's filed far, far away," he said.

Advocates say survivors, their families and the public have a right to this information immediately. They say it's the latest slap in the face to survivors by the federal government, the courts and the Catholic Church.

"Everybody is covering their butts. You have a conspiracy of silence from mostly white males. It's so disappointing," said Tom McMahon, the former general counsel for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Angela White, executive director of the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, agreed.

"Survivors have a right to know what happened and exactly why it happened — and why their voices are not being heard," she said.

Catholic entities made three promises totalling $79 million under the landmark Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement of 2005. A recent CBC News investigation has led many survivors, lawyers and First Nations leaders to say the church reneged on all three.

The first pledge was to provide $29 million in cash, but this was not met after millions of dollars were spent on lawyers, administration and other unapproved expenses.

The second was to give "best efforts" to fundraise $25 million nationally. Less than $4 million was raised during a period when Catholic officials spent more than $300 million on church and cathedral building projects.

The third was to provide $25 million worth of "in-kind services" to survivors. CBC News obtained the list of services, and survivors say most of the money provided was for inappropriate colonial religious services such as Bible study courses or sending priests and nuns to preach in Indigenous communities.