Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered an official apology Wednesday for thousands of aboriginal victims of residential schools in history.
"I stand before you today to offer an apology to former students of Indian residential schools," Harper said as he started a ten-minute English-French speech at the House of Commons of the parliament.
"The treatment of children in Indian residential schools is a sad chapter in our history. Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country," said Harper.
"The government now recognizes that the consequences of the Indian residential schools policy were profoundly negative and that this policy has had a lasting and damaging impact on aboriginal culture, heritage and language," he said.
"The government of Canada now recognizes it was wrong to forcibly remove children from their homes ..." he said. "We apologize for having done this."
Residential school survivors and native representatives, some wearing traditional clothing, were at the site and applauded Harper's statement.
Thousands of natives from across the country gathered on the lawn of Parliament Hill to watch the apology on giant televisions. More than 30 events were staged nationwide to celebrate the historic event.
From the 1870s to the 1970s, about 150,000 aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their parents and sent to distant residential schools in a bid to assimilate them into Christian society. Many say they were abused mentally, physically and sexually at the schools.
Harper's apology is the first such gesture by a Canadian leader for what is called the country's "single most disgraceful, harmful and racist act in history." Former Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien offered a statement of reconciliation on behalf of the government in 1998.
In September 2007, the government settled a compensation plan worth 1.9 billion Canadian dollars (1.9 billion U.S. dollars) for the 90,000 survivors of the residential schools. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission has also been set up to investigate on what really happened in the schools.
While many aboriginals have welcomed the government move, seeing it as a new beginning which will set the stage for an era of healing, reconciliation and understanding, others have stressed that it is more important for the government to take concrete actions to help improve the lives of aboriginal populations.
Source:Xinhua
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