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The Harper “Apology” — Saying “Sorry” with a Forked Tongue

Ian Angus, June 29th, 2008

By Mike Krebs

Mike Krebs is an Indigenous activist in Vancouver and a contributing editor of Socialist Voice.

On June 11, 2008, Stephen Harper, prime minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party, issued an “apology” for the residential school system that over 150,000 Indigenous children were forced through. The hype before and after the statement was enormous, with extensive coverage in all major media.

In trying to understand the responses of Indigenous people across Canada to this “apology,” it is first important to address what it did not do. It must be judged in terms of the ability of Indigenous people to move forward in the process of true healing, not just from the effects of the residential school system, but from the entire process of Canadian colonialism. In this framework, the deficiencies of the “apology” are much greater than any positive impact it could have.

Read the full article at <http://www.socialistvoice.ca/?p=304>

Ian Angus Ian Angus is editor of the online journal Climate and Capitalism, and a member of the Canadian Dimension Editorial Collective. Read other posts by Ian Angus.

One Comment

  1. Comment by Rhonda Sussman on July 6th, 2008 at 4:41 pm:

    An excellent piece. We should remember, however, that it was researcher and former United Church minister Kevin Annett who was the first to document the deliberate deaths of children in residential schools, and who was the first researcher brave enough to call it genocide. His reputation has been smeared for over a decade, including by leftists. Let’s give credit where credit is due.

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