<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) is an agreement between the government of Canada and approximately 86,000 Native Canadians who at some point were enrolled as children in the Canadian Indian residential school system, a system which was in place between 1879 and 1996 . The IRSSA recognized the damage inflicted by the residential schools and established a $2 billion compensation package for all former IRS students and, in particular, those who had been abused or otherwise harmed . The agreement, announced in 2006, was the largest class action settlement in Canadian history . As of December 2012 a total of $1.62 billion has been paid to 78,750 former students . </P> <P> In November 1996 the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) issued its final 4,000 - page report with 440 recommendations . Indian residential schools were the topic of one chapter . In 1998 in response to the RCAP the Canadian federal government unveiled Gathering Strength: Canada's Aboriginal Action Plan, a "long - term, broad - based policy approach in response to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples which included the "Statement of Reconciliation: Learning from the Past," in which the "Government of Canada recognizes and apologizes to those who experienced physical and sexual abuse at Indian residential schools and acknowledges its role in the development and administration of residential schools ." </P>

When was the indian residential school settlement agreement signed