Duration : 0:9:18

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Canada’s Indian Residential School system was responsible for the loss of culture and self-identity for hundreds of thousands of Aboriginal children. Recently, the government has made an apology to former students and the First Nations, in general, for the policy that was the root cause of many of the problems in aboriginal communities and with individuals, today.

As well, legal cases – both individual as well as class-action — have gone forward against individuals for physical, mental and sexual abuse perpetrated by staff at these schools.

The government has instituted dispute resolution processes to deal with cases of abuse, as a method of achieving healing.

The Common Experience Payment, a landmark agreement involving the federal and provincial governments, the courts, First Nations groups, the communities and individuals to compensate every former Residential School Student in Canada for each year they spent in Residential School is well under way. It marked an historic point in Canadian history, a turning point in the treatment and recognition of Aboriginal people across Canada.

In the next several years, The Truth and Reconciliation Commission will begin hearings to bring about healing to those people who lost loved ones to the system, who were damaged physically and emotionally by their removal to residential School, and to bring together the Native peoples and the rest of Canada.

Duration : 0:12:2

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This segment of the interview is no longer available on the CBC archives.

(Sorry about the shoddy visual quality and the camera moving away from the screen. I’m uploading it anyway because of the importance of what this woman describes: deliberate murder at a residential school, something that has never gone to any court in Canada and yet something that has been recounted by hundreds of survivors. The lawyers won’t go there as it implicates the Crown, whom they are sworn to defend above all…)

Duration : 0:1:13

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Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a historic apology for more than a century of abuse and cultural loss involving Indian residential schools.

The Prime Minister acknowledged the government’s role in removing and isolating children from their homes, families and culture.

Speaking in the House of Commons Harper acknowledged, “The treatment of children in Indian residential schools is a sad chapter of our history,” “Some sought, as was infamously said, to kill the Indian in the child.”

Harper continued, “This policy was wrong, caused great harm and has no place in our country,”

Residential school survivors from across Canada — many wearing traditional clothing — filled the House of Commons, which postponed other business for the day, to hear the Government of Canada’s official apology, which began at 3 o’clock.

Close to 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and M?tis children were removed from their communities throughout most of the last century and forced to attend residential schools.

Sean Connolly

Duration : 0:6:12

Technorati Tags: Aboriginal, Canada's, Harper, History, Indian, residential, School, Shame, Stephen

Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a historic apology for more than a century of abuse and cultural loss involving Indian residential schools.

The Prime Minister acknowledged the government’s role in removing and isolating children from their homes, families and culture.

Speaking in the House of Commons Harper acknowledged, “The treatment of children in Indian residential schools is a sad chapter of our history,” “Some sought, as was infamously said, to kill the Indian in the child.”

Harper continued, “This policy was wrong, caused great harm and has no place in our country,”

Residential school survivors from across Canada — many wearing traditional clothing — filled the House of Commons, which postponed other business for the day, to hear the Government of Canada’s official apology, which began at 3 o’clock.

Close to 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and M?tis children were removed from their communities throughout most of the last century and forced to attend residential schools.

Sean Connolly

Duration : 0:7:6

Technorati Tags: Aboriginal, Canada, Fontaine, Harper, History, Indian, Phil, residential, Schools, Stephen