Prime minister apologises to native Canadians
Thursday, 12 Jun 2008 10:49
Prime minister Stephen Harper has apologised to native Canadians
Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper has apologised for over a century of abuse aimed at native Canadians.
During the 19th century, indigenous Canadians were removed from their families and placed in residential schools in the hope of assimilating aboriginals and wiping out their culture.
"This policy of assimilation was wrong, caused great harm and has no place in our country," Mr Harper told the country's parliament on Wednesday.
"It was a sad episode in our history," he added.
A number of native Canadian leaders and hundreds of former students of Canada's residential schools were present during the prime minister's speech yesterday.
"On behalf of the government of Canada and all Canadians, I stand before you in this chamber so central to our life as a country to apologise to aboriginal peoples for Canada's role in the Indian Residential Schools system. We are sorry," he declared.
From 1874 onwards around 150,000 aboriginal children were forcibly enrolled in over a hundred boarding schools run by Christian churches at the request of the government.
Some of the children later alleged they suffered physical, psychological and sexual abuse while at the schools.
Chief Phil Fontaine of the Assembly of First Nations described the period as "the darkest chapter in Canada's history".
"They tried to kill the Indian in the child, to eradicate any sense of Indian-ness from Canada," he said.
"What happened today signifies a new dawn in the relationship between us and the rest of Canada," he concluded.