The Nova Scotia government will issue a formal apology to former residents of the Home for Colored Children, a spokesperson for the premier said Wednesday.
Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil will give the apology Friday at the provincial legislature, confirmed spokesperson Laurel Munroe.
Munroe offered no details about what the premier might say.
The apology comes four months after the government reached a settlement with former residents, who claimed years of physical, sexual and emotional abuse at the hands of staff at the Halifax-area home.
Ray Wagner, a lawyer who represented some of the residential home’s former residents in a class-action lawsuit, said an apology from the government will offer some vindication for the survivors.
“Whenever they choose to do it, it will be hugely important for a lot of the residents,” Wagner told CTV News. “There were a lot of questions that circulated around whether they were being truthful or not.”
Approximately 144 former residents took part in the original class-action lawsuit against the province and the home. Last year, a $5-million settlement was reached with the home. This past June, the province announced a $29-million lump-sum settlement.
Lawyers representing the former residents said they received an influx of new complaints against the home in late 2012 following the airing of CTV’s W5 documentary, “The Throwaway Children,” which took an in-depth look at into the allegations of abuse. Some of the horrific stories contained in affidavits dated back to the 1920s.
Lawyers have claimed that the incidents of abuse were documented and ignored by both the home and the Nova Scotia government.
Wagner said money from the settlements will soon be transferred to a third-party administrator, who will distribute the funds to claimants in accordance with the settlement agreement. There are currently some 300 people who stand to receive compensation through the settlement.
No one from the premier’s office commented on the matter.
With a report by CTV News’ Jacqueline Foster
