Formal apology for residential school survivors to be delivered by prime minister in parliament
Harper to issue formal apology to residential school survivors
KAREN HOWLETT - May 15, 2008
TORONTO — Prime Minister Stephen Harper will formally apologize to survivors of Canada's Indian residential schools on June 11.
Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl announced Thursday that Mr. Harper will make the long-awaited apology for residential school abuses in the House of Commons. After resisting repeated requests for an apology, the government announced in last fall's Throne Speech that one would be forthcoming, finally closing one of the saddest chapters in Canada's history.
“This is going to be a very meaningful and respectful apology that First Nations have been asking for, for many years,” Mr. Strahl told reporters following a speech in Toronto to the Empire Club of Canada.
“I'm just very pleased that we're going to get this done in this spring session,” he said.
The apology will coincide with the launch of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission that will hold cross-Canada hearings later this year into the treatment students of the schools endured and the legacy these institutions have left behind.
The residential schools were an extension of religious missionary work. They started receiving federal support in 1874 as part of Canada's campaign to assimilate aboriginals into Christian society by obliterating their language, religion and culture. Well over 100,000 native children passed through the schools, most of which were closed in the mid-1970s.
An investigation by The Globe and Mail revealed that as many as half of the aboriginal children who attended the early years of residential schools died of tuberculosis, despite repeated warnings to the federal government that overcrowding, poor sanitation and a lack of medical care were creating a toxic breeding ground for the rapid spread of the disease.
Mr. Strahl acknowledged that many first nations and former students of the schools feel an apology from the Prime Minister is necessary to bring about reconciliation between native communities and the rest of Canada.