The complicated cost of apologizing for residential schools

In 2007, the Canadian federal government earmarked billions of dollars tocompensate former students of Indian residential schools

Putting a price on "sorry" and actually calculating the cost of amends is complicated.

So is being the recipient of those funds.

Garnet Angeconeb attended residential school for six years. He received $25,000 in reparations.

Garnet says that in some ways it's an acknowledgement and a validation of what happened. But he was also hesitant to take the money too.

"It was kind of like a bittersweet moment for me. Yes, I have all this money but...This is not going to bring my childhood back. This is not going to help restore my dignity."

He decided to accept the compensation and share it with his children and grandchildren because of the intergenerational impact of the residential school system.

Doug George-Kanentiio was 11-years-old when he attended residential school. He received $13,500 in reparations.

Doug says reparations showa degree of sincerity but the process itself turned some Indigenous people off.

As a former student, you couldqualify for reparations in two ways.

The first wasfor anyone who went to residential schools. They were eligibleto receive$10,000 for the first year they attended, and $3,000 for subsequent years.

The second way wasthe process Doug is referring to - the Independent Assessment Process - which is more controversial.

It's for claims of sexual abuse or serious physical abuse, where survivors appeared before a panel. Incidents were given points and the total amount of points determinedthe amount of money people received.

"...You do feel as though you're once again a victim. We were faced with a dilemma. One was substantiating those claims so that we could get those points and another thing is having to come up with those highly personal, embarrassing, humiliating details as to what incident happened, when it happened and how often."

Doug also says that throughout the process of reparations and reconciliationthe onus is put on survivors, not only to provide intimate details of abuse, but to extend forgiveness.

"The part that was omitted throughout all of this is the opportunity to actually sit across from the abusers and ask for their apology. That's never been done...We've never had that opportunity."