SCHOOL VICTIMS GET APOLOGY.
GOOSE BAY, N. L. • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has “humbly” apologized for abuse and cultural losses at residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador, saying the gesture is part of recognizing “hard truths” Canada must confront as a society.
Speaking at a ceremony with former students in Goose Bay, Trudeau apologized on behalf of the government of Canada and all Canadians to former students at five schools in the province.
He said their parents were promised their children would be cared and provided for and would be safe.
“However we know today that this colonial way of thinking led to practices that led to deep harm,” said Trudeau.
He said the children were isolated from their families, uprooted from their communities and stripped of their identity. They were made to feel “irrelevant and inferior” and taught to be “ashamed of who they were and where they were from.”
“I humbly stand before you to offer a long-overdue apology ... on behalf of the Government of Canada and all Canadians,” said a visibly moved Trudeau.
“To all of you we are sorry.” The former students were left out of a compensation package and national apology in 2008 by former prime minister Stephen Harper. His Conservative government argued that Ottawa didn’t oversee those schools, but the Liberal government offered last year to settle a class-action lawsuit for $50 million.
The crowd gathered Friday at an auditorium in Goose Bay cheered both Trudeau and Toby Obed, who accepted the prime minister’s apology on behalf of school survivors.
Obed became overcome with emotion as he spoke.
“Because I come from a patient and forgiving culture I think it is proper for us to accept an apology from the Government of Canada,” said Obed.
However Innu leaders boycotted event and won’t accept the apology, saying Innu children suffered in other places besides residential schools.
The leaders issued a statement saying they met with members of their community on Thursday and received a clear message.
“The response from members of our community has been quite emotional, it is clear that Innu need apologies for more than the experience in the International Grenfell Association run residential school dormitories,” Grand Chief Gregory Rich said in the statement.
The statement says Innu children were abused in Roman Catholic schools and in the homes of teachers and missionaries in the communities of Sheshatshiu and Davis Inlet. It said governments haven’t recognized that.