Former, current ministers won't say who dropped residential school case against Catholic Church
In October, CBC News asked officials in the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations for an explanation. In an email, they said the decision to drop the appeal was made by the deputy minister when it was known as the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.
But speaking publicly for the first time to CBC News, that former deputy minister, Colleen Swords, denied making the decision.
In an interview, Swords said it appears the decision to abandon the appeal was made during the "caretaker period" after the 2015 federal election. Stephen Harper's Conservative government had just lost the election to Justin Trudeau's Liberals.
Valcourt and other ministers remained responsible until the new cabinet was installed. But during this transition period, bureaucrats and ministers "generally practised restraint whenever possible" in deference to the incoming regime, Swords said.
That's why she isn't sure why the appeal was dropped at that time.
"I would assume this was considered significant.... This would have been major," she said. "They wouldn't do that. Not if they could wait."
Lori Turnbull, director of the Dalhousie University's school of public administration, agreed. She said no major decisions should be made during the caretaker period.
"If there was nothing urgent here, nothing pressing. You could have waited another month," Turnbull said.
Swords suggested contacting Andrew Saranchuk, the assistant deputy minister at the time who was in charge of the residential schools file. Saranchuk is now a senior official in the Department of Justice, but an official said he would not be available for an interview.
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