The B.C. government has announced a  proposed settlement to a class-action lawsuit  brought by former residents of Woodlands school in New Westminster.  

The school housed 9,125 unwanted disabled children and adults between 1950 and 1996, when it closed. The proposed settlement applies to a class of approximately 1,100 residents who lived there between August 1,  1974 and 1996.

They will be compensated for "physical, sexual, emotional and/or psychological abuse and have suffered injury, loss or damage as a result thereof", according to a government news release and backgrounder.

The settlement  does not apply to approximately 500 survivors who lived in the institution before August 1,  1974.

“We are hopeful the courts will endorse this settlement as well,”  Attorney General Mike  de Jong said in  the news release. “It is the result of extensive negotiations to find a fair approach to compensate Woodlands residents who suffered abuse.”

A 2005 B.C. Court of Appeal ruling, Arishenkoff v. British Columbia, determined that the Crown and its agents weren't liable for wrongs that occurred before the Crown Proceedings Act became law in 1974.

The plaintiffs in the class-action suit alleged the province was negligent or in breach of its fiduciary duty by failing to take reasonable steps to protect residents from physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological psychological abuse from staff and other residents.

Previous Georgia Straight stories on Woodlands:

Woodlands school survivors seek settlement

Woodlands' lost found Dead and Buried

Woodlands survivors see a legal opening

Woodlands justice on hold

Woodlands survivors face more delays

Woodlands justice in doubt