Valcourt marks fifth anniversary of PM’s residential school apology

Janet Brewster, right, puts an arm around her mother Betty, while the two watch Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologize June 11, 2008 for the federal government’s role in the residential school system. Hundreds of survivors and their families packed Iqaluit’s cadet hall to view the historic apology. (FILE PHOTO

Bernard Valcourt, the federal Aboriginal affairs minister, on June 11 acknowledged the fifth anniversary of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s apology to the former students of Aboriginal residential schools and their families.

“The apology acknowledged that the policy of assimilation was wrong, had caused great harm, and has no place in our country,” Valcourt said in a statement.

Harper delivered the apology June 11, 2008 in the House of Commons as dozen Aboriginal leaders, including Mary Simon, then the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, sat in the house and listened.

“You have been working on recovering from this experience for a long time and in a very real sense, we are now joining you on this journey. The government of Canada sincerely apologizes and asks the forgiveness of the aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly,” Harper said in his apology.

Harper’s apology flows from a $1.9 billion compensation package that settled scores of lawsuits in which tens of thousands of class action claimants sought redress for the damage inflicted on them and their families by Canada’s notorious residential school system for aboriginal people.

The settlement included “common experience payments” for anyone who attended a residential school and the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Valcourt said the legacy of residential schools is still felt by Aboriginal people across Canada.

“We acknowledge that we must forge a new relationship, one that is based on an appreciation of our shared history, a respect for each other’s cultures and traditions, and an honest desire to move forward together with a renewed understanding that Canada’s future will be stronger if we build it together,” Valcourt said in his statement.

Jean Crowder, the New Democratic Party opposition critic for Aboriginal affairs, urged Valcourt and his government to make good on that statement.

“New Democrats want to build on those words, and we urge the federal government to do the same by honouring its commitments to First Nations, Inuit and Métis people. A move towards real reconciliation with Aboriginal peoples in Canada is long overdue,” Crowder said June 11 in the House of Commons.

And Crowder said the NDP “stands in solidarity” with all those who want Harper’s apology to lead to such a reconciliation.

“We stand with the thousands who have attended Truth and Reconciliation Commission events. With stand with the many young voices who have joined the Our Dreams Matter Too campaign to bring equal funding to all schools in Canada.

“We stand with workers across this country who participate in National Aboriginal History Month events. We stand with all those who seek a change in perspective and a new relationship between First Nations, Inuit and Métis and other peoples of Canada,” Crowder said.