Feds hiring private eyes to check abuse claims

Ottawa, Saskatchewan, Canada –

The federal government is about to spend millions of dollars to send private investigators to check out the claims of former students who say they were abused at Indian residential schools.

Ottawa has issued a request for proposals from private investigators across the country, hoping to hire 21 firms to track down alleged abusers and people who may have witnessed physical and sexual abuse.

The project is designed to verify about 13,000 compensation claims that former students have filed against the federal government over its role in setting up and running the schools, starting in the early 1900s.

Three of the private investigator firms are to be selected from Saskatchewan. More residential school claims come from Saskatchewan than any other province.

"It's important that people do have the right to tell their side of the story," says Nicole Dauz, who is with the federal department handling residential school claims.

Until now, Dauz says, government staff have tried to verify the information presented by former students who are asking to be compensated for the suffering imposed on them as young children. Using private investigators should speed up the process, she says.

Read the article at CBC Saskatchewan - Feds hiring private eyes to check abuse claims

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