Members of the Aboriginal community across Canada have waited decades for Ottawa to apologize about forcing native children to attend residential schools, not just for the abuse that occurred as a result of the policy, but for the policy itself.
Wednesday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is going to stand up in the House of Commons and make the apology, something Canada's Indian Affairs Minister has suggested all Canadians stop and watch.
It will be a historic moment for the tens of thousands of natives who suffered terrible abuse at such schools across the country. The fallout from that hurt has damaged generations of families.
The Conservative government's support for a thorough apology is in sharp contrast to where it stood just over a year ago, when there was talk in the party of education initiatives, not formal apologies.
Ottawa report Bill Curry takes questions on residential schools and politics Tuesday.
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Despite the fact most Canadians feel an apology is long overdue, there are also questions about the timing and the reasons. What is motivating Stephen Harper to do this now? Is it too critical to even pose that question? Or should the government do more? What do you want to know?
Ottawa reporter Bill Curry was online Tuesday to answer some questions about residential schools and Mr. Harper's apology. The questions and replies are at the bottom of this page.
Bill Curry's career in journalism began in 1994 when he worked reporting and editing for the Anishinabek News on the Nipissing First Nation. He has continued his coverage of aboriginal issues with the National Post, Canwest News Service and now The Globe and Mail.
Last year Mr. Curry and fellow Globe and Mail reporter Karen Howlett wrote an in-depth series on Canada's Indian residential schools, bringing attention to the alarmingly high death rates at the schools. Through interviews and archival research, Mr. Curry and Ms. Howlett reported on the repeated concerns expressed inside government about the deadly conditions inside the schools and how those warning were routinely dismissed or ignored.
Christine Diemert, globeandmail.com: Hello Bill and thanks for joining us today. I think it's safe to say the residential school has become on of the biggest blights on the history of Canada since Confederation. For years governments of various stripes, including Stephen Harper's Conservatives, have avoided apologizing to aboriginal Canadians.
Why is it finally happening now? And what do you think we can expect as a result of Mr. Harper's statement Wednesday?
Bill Curry:Thanks Christine. There are a lot of factors influencing the timing of tomorrow's apology, but certainly the largest one in my view is cost. Churches issued apologies throughout the 1980s and 1990s, but Ottawa resisted. Liberal Indian Affairs minister Jane Stewart issued a "statement of reconciliation" in 1998, but the wording was very cautious. AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine, who worked closely with the government leading up to that statement, now says the cautious wording was purely because government lawyers were concerned that a more complete apology would be used against Ottawa by former students in their growing number of civil suits.
Another factor is Conservative Jim Prentice and the other opposition MPs who really pressured the Liberal government in 2005 to move toward a broad settlement. That pressure led then-deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan to reverse her position in support of the status quo and in favour of more aggressive negotiation toward a settlement.
Once the settlement went through in early 2006, it mean that the vast majority of former students had agreed to surrender their right to sue Ottawa in exchange for common experience payments and a second process for up to $275,000 in compensation for those who faced abuse at the schools.
There are some in the aboriginal community who felt that the AFN-led negotiators settled for too little.
Even with the issue of liability dealt with by 2007 however, the then-Indian Affairs minister Mr. Prentice, was cool to the idea of an apology. His position really upset many in the native community, who began raising the call for an apology at every opportunity. That campaign was picked up by the opposition parties in Ottawa, who moved a motion in the House of Commons apologizing for residential schools. The Conservatives supported that motion and the political pressure appears to have led the government to plan for the formal Government of Canada apology we will see tomorrow.
Tomorrow's apology is expected to follow the same formula Prime Minister Stephen Harper used in 2006 to apologize for the Chinese head tax. It will essentially be a history lesson from the government's perspective and a recognition of the harm done. Unlike the statement of reconciliation, Indian Affairs minister Chuck Strahl has promised tomorrow's apology will be unequivocal.
Bert Russell from Paradox, B.C. writes: Sorry to be off-key here, but is there no evidence of positive influence? I have a number of Native friends who admit the school changed their lives for the better.
