A circle of eleven chairs on the floor of the House of Commons shows that this is no ordinary day in Parliament. The chairs are for five aboriginal leaders and six residential school survivors who have been invited here for an extraordinary event: an apology from the government of Canada for residential schools and the damage they caused to aboriginal people. In this live special broadcast from CBC Newsworld, Prime Minister Stephen Harper recognizes the wrongs of the past.
"Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm and has no place in our country," says Harper. "The government of Canada sincerely apologizes and asks the forgiveness of the aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly. We are sorry."
Harper's apology is followed by remarks from Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, who acknowledges his party's complicity in the residential schools policy, having governed Canada for 70 years in the 20th century. Two more federal party leaders, Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Québecois and Jack Layton of the NDP, reflect on the apology and rebuke the Harper government for not endorsing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
From the circle, Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, responds to the apology to cheers from the viewing galleries. "Never again will we be the 'Indian problem'," says Fontaine. "Today is the result of the righteousness of our struggle." Fontaine is followed by eloquent, heartfelt remarks from Patrick Brazeau of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Mary Simon of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Clement Chartier of the Métis National Council, and Beverley Jacobs of the Native Women's Association of Canada.
"Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm and has no place in our country," says Harper. "The government of Canada sincerely apologizes and asks the forgiveness of the aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly. We are sorry."
Harper's apology is followed by remarks from Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, who acknowledges his party's complicity in the residential schools policy, having governed Canada for 70 years in the 20th century. Two more federal party leaders, Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Québecois and Jack Layton of the NDP, reflect on the apology and rebuke the Harper government for not endorsing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
From the circle, Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, responds to the apology to cheers from the viewing galleries. "Never again will we be the 'Indian problem'," says Fontaine. "Today is the result of the righteousness of our struggle." Fontaine is followed by eloquent, heartfelt remarks from Patrick Brazeau of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Mary Simon of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Clement Chartier of the Métis National Council, and Beverley Jacobs of the Native Women's Association of Canada.
https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100015644/1100100015649