ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study approach to examine the reparations for the physical and sexual abuse that took place in Canada's Indian Residential School system to demonstrate how the Canadian case complicates the dominant discourses of reparations. It draws on the reparations literature to develop a framework that employs to analyse the individual and collective material reparations for the Indian Residential School experience. The chapter argues that there is a serious lack of scholarly attention that is being paid to how victims understand and construct the meaning of reparations, notwithstanding the fact that reparations are often negotiated with the input of victims and victim groups. It also argues that the content and design of a collective reparations program must be closely examined to ascertain the program's collective orientation. The chapter examines how recipients of reparations exercise their agency and interpret, understand, and mobilise their individual financial compensation awards to expand the meaning of repair.
