E/CN.4/2005/88/Add.3 page 16 exclusively responsible for “Indians and lands reserved for Indians”, and whose military confiscation of the Chippewas’ entire reserve lands in 1942 led to the demonstrations) is refusing to participate as a party to the inquiry, on the grounds that the inquiry lacks jurisdiction over federal matters, including “Indian lands”; but it has provided the inquiry with documents relevant to the events. This is a highly disturbing position, one that will limit the utility of this inquiry into governmental takings of First Nations reserve lands. F. Educational needs and policies 60. Aboriginal peoples in Canada are still trying to overcome the heritage of a colonial educational system, which severely disrupted Aboriginal families, their cultures and identities. Children in particular were targeted time and again in official strategies to control and assimilate Aboriginal people. Residential schools, which for several generations Aboriginal children were compelled to attend away from their families, communities and traditional lands, did the greatest damage. They were forbidden to speak the only languages they knew and taught to reject their homes, their heritage and, by extension, themselves, thus contributing to the political, cultural and economic decline of many Aboriginal communities and people. 61. Canada is engaged in addressing the wrongs suffered in the residential school system by several generations of Aboriginal families through the Indian Residential Schools Resolution programme. Over the years, over 12,000 legal claims have been filed against Canada by victims of physical deprivation and abuse in these schools, some of which are dealt with through alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. Canada has carried out a remarkable action to address this issue even if, overall, monetary compensation packages to victims do not really provide a meaningful response to language and culture loss endured by several generations of Aboriginal children. Numerous Aboriginal informants spoke to the Special Rapporteur about the transgenerational grief suffered because of the loss of culture, identity and meaningful parenting that has marked community life as a result of the residential school experience, and that may have been one of the factors leading to the high rate of suicide among Aboriginal adolescents. 62. While schooling on reserves is a federal responsibility, in other Aboriginal communities it is the task of provincial and territorial governments. In Quebec nine Aboriginal languages may be taught in Aboriginal community schools, whereas off reserve Indians are schooled in French or English. The James Bay Agreement provides the Cree and Inuit of northern Quebec with special powers regarding Aboriginal schools and teacher training. The Mi’kmaq have jurisdiction over their own education since the late 1990s. Other Aboriginal communities are negotiating similar arrangements with the government. 63. In Nunavut over half the adult population does not have a high school diploma and high school graduation rates are well below the national average. Unemployment is high and Inuit have not been integrated in the public civil service as rapidly as had been foreseen. Only 40 per cent of all school-age Aboriginal children were attending school full time. Ninty-six per cent of the more than 8,000 students in Nunavut are Inuit and Inuktitut language is taught in schools, yet no Inuktitut language school exists and there is no K-12 Inuktitut curriculum. As education is within the jurisdiction of the territorial government, and not a federal responsibility, Nunavut has not received any federal funds targeted for specific Aboriginal education.