Canadian Presbyterians make offer in abuse case

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The Presbyterian Church of Canada has offered to pay up to $1.5 million to settle abuse claims by former students who attended Canada’s notorious residential schools for natives.

Public Works Minister Ralph Goodale, who is in charge of the federal government’s residential schools file, announced the tentative deal Dec. 12 in the House of Commons.

The deal would have the Presbyterians pay 30 percent of validated settlements for physical or sexual abuse at the schools it once ran in Western Canada. The Canadian government would pay the rest.

“Now, rather than focusing on legal points, we can both focus on humane solutions,” Goodale said.

The Presbyterians are the second of four denominations which together ran more than 120 of the government-owned schools, to reach a deal on how settlement costs should be shared with Ottawa.