OTTAWA -- Canada will issue the long-awaited apology for the legacy of residential schools in the House of Commons on June 11.
Rod Bruinooge, Manitoba MP and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs, announced the date prior to question period on Thursday.
"This would be a new chapter for Canada that all Canadians should feel proud of," said Bruinooge. "Thousands of former students, including National Chief Phil Fontaine, who also is a former student himself, have been calling for a formal apology for a number of years. Our government shares this view that the apology is a crucial step in the journey toward healing and reconciliation."
The apology will be delivered by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said Bruinooge. It will come 11 days after the launch of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. That commission is to spend the next five years touring the country and hearing from survivors to develop a historical record of residential schools.
Fontaine has expressed concern the Assembly of First Nations hasn't had enough input into the apology and has warned if it is not heartfelt and complete it might be rejected.
A spokesperson for the AFN did not return calls Thursday.
Residential schools were run by the churches for the federal government for more than a century. More than 100,000 aboriginal children were forced into the schools in an attempt to assimilate them into non-aboriginal Canadian society.
They were not allowed to speak their native languages, practise their culture and often had little or no contact with their families. Tens of thousands of students have reported physical and sexual abuse in the schools.
mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca
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