Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will make an apology next month for the rampant abuses at native residential schools from the 1870s to until the 1970s.
"This is going to be a very meaningful and respectful apology," Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl said on Thursday.
The announcement came prior to a national aboriginal day of action on May 29 that may witness highway and railroad blockades.
Tensions are mounting between Ottawa and First Nations, or Indians, over a number of issues, including land claims and the poverty issue facing Indians.
According to national statistics, in 2006, there were just under 700,000 Indians in Canada, accounting for over 2 percent of the country's population.
Starting in 1874, Canada funded the residential schools, which were an extension of religious missionary work. It was part of the then Canadian campaign to assimilate aboriginals into a Christian society by obliterating their language, religion and culture.
About 150,000 students went through the schools, most of which closed down in the 1970s.
The federal government admitted 10 years ago that physical and sexual abuse in the once-mandatory schools was rampant. Thousands of former students have sued the government.
Many of the 90,000 survivors of the schools have said that they wanted to hear a formal apology from the prime minister in the House of Commons.
Source:Xinhua
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