Canada’s Apology to Indigenous Peoples

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada was created through a legal settlement among Residential Schools Survivors, the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit representatives, the Canadian government and certain churches that were responsible for creation and operation of the schools. The speaker grew up secure in a Winnipeg middle-class neighborhood full of family, friends, and most importantly to his parents, new public schools. That neighborhood also included one of the notorious residential schools where Indigenous children were scooped from their families and kept there in an effort by the church and state to remove any trace of their ancestral heritage. The Commission documented widespread emotional, physical and sexual abuse that occurred in furtherance of this effort. Talking about his recent realizations is part of the speaker’s response to the Commission’s 94 Calls to Action.