Michael Bay shares his personal reflections on the residential schools compensation process

Paula Puddy, HBA LLB MBA

Michael Bay shares his personal reflections on the residential schools compensation process as a former adjudicator for this special tribunal.

Based on this tribunal experience, he believes it is possible to do justice and contribute to healing at the same time (sometimes referred to as therapeutic jurisprudence).

In order to provide context to his reflections, Michael summarized the history of colonization, the Indian Act and the formation of residential schools. Essentially, the Canadian government stripped indigenous people of their culture, language and religion by removing children from their families and placing them in these schools. He also reviewed the horrors and abuse suffered by inidgenous children at the hands of their caregivers and how it has impacted many of them as adults.

As adjudicator, his role was to hear the claimant's story, ask questions, (no-one else was permitted to ask questions at the hearings), assess credibility and determine an appropriate award of compensation, if any, related to physical and sexual abuse.

During his presentation, Michael shared his ideas on how he attempted to make the hearings therapeutic rather than re-victimizing claimants. These ideas included the following:

• using plain language
• encouraging the claimants to tell a story
• counselling was made available to claimants before and after the process
• dressing informally and in colourful clothing (as the adjudicator)
• acknowledging that shame and guilt are real and that those feelings belonged to the perpetrator

Most importantly, Michael stated that he tried to turn the hearings into a meaningful human experience which boiled down to "treating people with empathy and respect" in order to provide a safe space to tell their story.

In conclusion, Michael remarks that this process, both therapeutic and judicial in nature, may have application in other areas of law such as mass torts.

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