OTTAWA – Bob Watts, former CEO of the Assembly of First Nations and key player in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA), says he is optimistic about reconciliation.

A $21-million fundraising shortfall by Canadian Catholics in meeting commitments of the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement highlights a need for reconciliation between mainstream Canada and its aboriginal people that goes beyond the Catholic Entities named in the legal settlement with residential school survivors, according to government spokespeople.

A $21-million shortfall on a $25-million fundraising campaign was a fiasco, but it wasn’t an attempt to weasel out of the legal or moral obligations Catholics have in the wake of the residential schools tragedy, Grouard-McLennan Archibishop Gerard Pettipas told The Catholic Register.

OTTAWA - The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is seeking a court opinion on its mandate to collect government documents under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.