Northwest native abuse survivors secure $166 million settlement from church

Clarita Vargas, a Colville Tribe member and Yakima resident abused at an Omak boarding school, and attorney Blaine Tamaki speak to reporters Friday after announcing an $166 million settlement with the Northwest division of the Catholic Jesuit order. Pending court approval, the settlement will be paid to about 470 people abused as children at boarding schools operated by the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, including the Omak school where Vargas was victimized. less Clarita Vargas, a Colville Tribe member and Yakima resident abused at an Omak boarding school, and attorney Blaine Tamaki speak to reporters Friday after announcing an $166 million settlement with the Northwest ... more Photo: Levi Pulkkinen/seattlepi.com Photo: Levi Pulkkinen/seattlepi.com Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Northwest native abuse survivors secure $166 million settlement from church 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A Catholic order has agreed to pay $166 million to nearly 500 survivors of sexual abuse at Jesuit-run reservation boarding schools.

Announcing the settlement Friday morning, attorneys for the abuse victims -- nearly all Native Americans and Alaskan Natives abused at the mission schools in Washington and around the Northwest -- described the settlement as the largest in U.S. history.

In a statement, the attorneys said the Society of Jesus' Oregon Province and its insurer agreed to make the payment and issue a written apology to the victims, who were sexually and psychologically abused from the 1940s through the 1990s.

The abuse was alleged to have taken place at Jesuit operated mission schools and boarding schools on Indian reservations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and Montana. Attorneys for the plaintiffs have said the suits forced the order to apply file for bankruptcy protection.

"This settlement recognizes that the Jesuits betrayed the trust of hundreds of young children in their care, and inflicted terrible atrocities upon them. These religious figures should have been responsible for protecting children, but instead raped and molested them," said Blaine Tamaki, a Yakima attorney whose firm represented about a third of the non-Alaskan plaintiffs in a suit filed in 2009.

"Although the abuse they suffered was horrific, my clients are hopeful that, with the Jesuits' acknowledgement of wrongdoing, changes will be made so that that this type of abuse can be prevented in the future," Tamaki continued in a statement. "In other words, the church needs to correct flaws that have allowed this to happen."

Plaintiff Katherine Mendez, a Yakama tribal member abused as a child at St. Mary's Mission boarding school in Omak, said she was relieved on hearing of the settlement, according to the statement issued by Tamaki. Mendez was 11 when she was sent to St. Mary's Mission by a state foster worker, and was abused during the year that followed.

"I kept the sexual molestation hidden in the dark, in my soul, for years and years," Mendez said in the statement. "Finally, when I came forward and saw that others did too, it was as if the blanket that had hidden our secret was pulled off and we could move into the light again."

The cases were filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Oregon and elsewhere. A final order is expected in coming weeks.

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