The federal government and the Anglican Church of Canada have reached a deal that, if ratified, would see the church pay up to $25 million to those abused in its native residential schools.
Cabinet minister Ralph Goodale, head of Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada, confirmed the deal today alongside Archbishop Michael Peers.
The proposal, to be voted on by Anglican districts across Canada by Christmas, would see the national church pay 30 per cent of the compensation of valid claims up to a maximum of $25 million.
The federal government would pay 70 per cent.
The deal, which involves only the Anglican Church, comes after more than two years of haggling between church bishops and federal negotiators over how to split the cost of damages being awarded in mounting lawsuits.
It's estimated that more than 90,000 aboriginal children aged six and older attended the live-in schools — often against their will — from 1930 until the last one closed outside Regina in 1996.
The schools, funded by Ottawa but run by the Catholic, Anglican, United and Presbyterian churches until the 1970s, are also blamed for stripping generations of former students of their native languages and culture.
More than 4,500 lawsuits representing at least 12,000 claimants have been filed since the federal government officially apologized in 1998 for widespread abuse.
To date, a handful of lawsuits have made it through the courts, with conflicting judgments on how church and government should split costs.