What is your opinion of the Prime Minister apologizing?

Question

for the centuries of damage caused by the policy of imprisoning First Nations children in Residential Schools?

Answer 1

It means little in the grand scheme of things. The priests and nuns at the residential schools should apologize and be held accountable for their actions (if they are still alive). Better use of the PM's time would have been a plan on how to allocate money for the healing of Canada's First Nations.

Answer 2

Nobody can undo the past.

The only way to help these situations are to start by saying you are sorry for what has happened

I am sorry for things that other people of my country have done, yet, I personnally did not condone or participate in the foolishness that was brought upon by others, at the same time I AM sorry.  

My anscesters are long gone ...dead and buried. If they were around and I could say to them "look what hardship you have created, now get off your sorry @zz and fix it -you no good for nothing/it would be a tirade of unprintable words and gestures. But that is not the reality.

All we can hope for, is that the past can find itself in the past.That people can find it in their heart to forgive...on both sides. Yes, of course it is too late, but, in the present time an olive branch has been extended. Nobody will ever be able to take back the hurt, but the healing needs a place to begin.

I applaud him for apologizing. He took a huge risk, but, I think that in the long run the country will be better for it being done.

It will help to bring closure to some, and awareness to others.

It is true that the truth will set you free. There is freedom in knowing that your fellow countryman accept you. Even when

there has been unspeakable terrors brought upon a segment of the nation, a person still needs to feel as if they belong and are accepted. It is the only way to begin the healing.

I think it was the right one and I hope there are no erroneous repercussions that divide the country.

The best of luck. Peace from the USA

Answer 3

Why apologize for giving children an education, seems sort of weird.

*Hey sorry kitana, I didn't know what country it was about, I thought it was about the UK.

Answer 4

Notice how long it took him to actually do it. Maybe he was busy trying to convince the MPs to vote on same-s*x marriage again.

Answer 5

MPs apologies are functional apologies, they mean little. There's a great book on political apologies (I just can't place the author).

Answer 6

Johno, the Prime Minister apologized because although the intent of the residential schools seemed like it would be positive (a place for the children to live, religion being taught, the children learned English and other subjects, etc.), what ended up happening was attempted full-on, culture wiping assimilation of these First Nations children.

Note that this apology is LONG overdue. The culture shock that the children in the residential schools went through is unlike anything we could imagine. They were told that speaking their native language was a sin. Long braids were cut off (little boy`s heads were shaved because the children were considered dirty and were assumed to have had lice). In many Aboriginal cultures, it is a sign of respect to cut off long braids in memory of someone close who has just died. You know what those children thought? That someone they loved had died.

While many of the priests and teachers at the schools had wonderful intentions and pure hearts, as history has always shown us, power corrupts. Children were raped. They were beaten. They were put in isolation for speaking to each other in their language that their parents taught them. In some residential schools, parents were prohibited from visiting. The government actually hired people to go to reserves and lure children off the reserves, promising them education, and I kid you not, candy.

I think it`s a shame that the apology is so late. There`s a lot of things that Canadians do not know about Aboriginal history and they simply choose to ignore. In addition to having their women raped and their land taken away from them through shady ``contracts``, their children were ripped away from them and had Catholicism thrust upon them. I cringe when I hear jokes about ``another Indian drinking or committing suicide``...wake up and smell the bannock ladies and gentlemen: their actions are the aftermath of the residential schools, reflecting from generation to generation.

You know what I think about him apologizing? I think without any sort of money, his talk his cheap. Does he think that by saying a few words, he can eliminate years of pain and sorrow and culture shock?

Edit: Johno, I guessed that :) That`s kind of why I went on a lengthy explanation spree. I gave some links if it`s something you might be interested in reading about. Cheers

Edit2: I recognize that there were some payments made in a peaceful effort:

http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/rqpi/index-en...

Is it really enough, though? I`m willing to bet that if white children had ended up in the residential schools somehow, no one would ever settle on $10,000.

Answer 7

I was proud of our Australian PM, Kevin Rudd, for apologising (on behalf of the nation, and all its people) to the indigenous peoples of Australia for the terrible practices of the past.

The Aboriginal peoples wanted an apology, and not being decent enough to give one was not only churlish and hurtful, but it lay like a heavy cloud over all aspects of indigenous issues.

It was like, until we could supply the apology, we did not have the moral right to make decisions etc, and ceratinly it has been hard to get co-operation from the indigenous people, which is fair enough really.

Anyway, so he made The Apology, to much cheering and acclaim, but now the actual work starts, and that is where the next problem is ~ what is really going to be different or better.

So anyway, I am glad we (as a nation) apologised and think we should have done so a LONG time ago, but now ~ having done so, the big question is "Where to now?"

Good luck with how things work out for you guys!

Cheers :-)