Killing the Child in the Indian

Today was unique in all of Parliament in that the Government of Canada, after more than a century, finally offered an apology to this country's Metis, Inuit and First Nations peoples for the residential schools injustices.  We all took our seats in the House, while the gallery was full of aboriginal witnesses and victims - solemnity was the order of the day.The leaders of all four parties spoke, beginning with the Prime Minister, and all of them repeated the same quote that stayed with me when it was all over - "killing the Indian in the child."  It was obviously a quote from somewhere but there was clear truth in it and we all felt it in that place.  Three general questions ran through me during that 90-minute period.What have we done?  The history of how children were swept away from their traditional homes and planted in places of learning is now difficult to understand. Worse still was the historical injustices that occurred, involving physical, emotional and cultural abuse.  In one of the blackest periods in our history, the Canadian government and numerous church and educational institutions succeeded in leaving an abiding stain on the collective memory of Canada's aboriginal people.  It will be a recovery that will take decades more.What are we doing?  It felt odd in the House today to offer a formal apology when the present Canadian government refuses to sign on to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Aboriginal and Indigenous People - something that was brought up by both the Bloc and NDP leaders.  Historic land claims remain unsettled. Millions of dollars have been cut from programs dealing with culture and communications in aboriginal communities.  First Nations, Metis and Inuit women no longer have the funds to challenge unresponsive governments through the Court Challenges Program.  What are we doing exactly?  What are we going to do?  This is a fundamental question because the word "sorry" will mean nothing if we don't get this part right.  Aboriginal leaders today took all the parties at their word and accepted the corporate apology, yet they are seasoned enough to know that verbal commitments at times are excuses for inaction.  Today wasn't just the end of a bitter piece of history in Canada, it also should be the commencement of an entire new order, a more equitable way of doing things, where Canada's original peoples become our true and full equals.  No verbal apology is ever going to achieve that, only hard and dedicated work by all aspects of society - especially Parliament.  The task ahead will be enormous but we have now said we are sorry to the very people who will help us achieve it and their partnership in spirit and action will be fully necessary for such a great achievement.For me today it was more about "killing the child in the Indian."  Just looking at the aboriginal faces gathered there taught me that we took the joy and the bloom from generations of aboriginal people in Canada - we took the innocence, killed the child and poisoned the future.  God give us the courage and fortitude to make sure that this next generation of Metis, Inuit and First Nations people will live no such horror and that we will never be so blind and unjust again.