Prime minister apologizes to native Canadians(Indian)?

Question

Read the following article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080612/ap_on_re_ca/canada_indian_apology;_ylt=AlFwjOHlOpMwPZO.aFJS8gX9xg8F

1. What do you guys think about the policy?

2. Do you guys consider them(native Canadian) as Indian?

Answer 1

When Europeans first arrived, Canada had an indigenous population estimated at 200,000. In 1986 the Canadian single-origin aboriginal population numbered 373,260. In 1990 there were 598 separate Indian bands located on or having access to 2,284 reserves.

Canadian Indians historically have faced strong assimilatory pressure.

From the 19th century until the 1970s, more than 150,000 Indian children were required to attend state-funded Christian schools. Their treatment at the schools where they were often physically and sexually abused was a sad chapter in the country's history.

I think Canada's indigenous population deserved the apology for the way they were treated in the past.

Yes they are native to Canada because they were there long before the Europeans even arrived there.

The office of superintendent for Indian affairs in Canada was first established by the British in 1755. In 1860 control of Indian affairs passed to the Canadian government, and in 1880 a Department of Indian Affairs was established, now a part of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.