Time to Say Sorry

This is a photo of Marguerite Wabano, a Cree woman from Moosonee, Ontario. The picture is from her 103rd birthday party. On Wednesday she will be the oldest recipient of an apology made in the House of Commons to the more than 100,000 aboriginal people who were sent to church-run boarding schools across Canada. Using the word "sent" is not really accurate. The majority were virtually forcibly abducted from their homes to spend years in these schools.

Not all of these children were sexually abused, or abused at all for that matter. Yet the displacement, the requirement to give up language and culture was traumatic for most. A few weeks ago I listened to an agonizing interview with three generations of a family where the grandfather had been a native school resident. He recounted incidents where boys were required by leaders to pummel one another until one remained standing. His alcoholism undermined his own life, that of his daughter, and grand-daughter. Some children died at the schools due to lack of medical care and others eventually died by suicide.

Many teachers were not abusive and were actually mentors. Many workers refused to mete out the harsh punishments prescribed for the children. It is still a miserable legacy. All Canadians are encouraged to listen to the apology as Prime Minister Harper makes it on Wednesday at 3:00 pm. Marguerite Wabano will be present and she has said that forgiveness has been essential for her survival. Go to the CBC's Stolen Children for more information.

Here is the apology issued by the United Church of Canada in 1986. There is a plaque with these words in English, French and Oji-Cree at Laurentian University in Sudbury.

Apology to First Nations Peoples (1986)

Rt. Rev. Robert Smith
Long before my people journeyed to this land your people were here, and you received from your Elders an understanding of creation and of the Mystery that surrounds us all that was deep, and rich, and to be treasured.
We did not hear you when you shared your vision. In our zeal to tell you of the good news of Jesus Christ we were closed to the value of your spirituality.
We confused Western ways and culture with the depth and breadth and length and height of the gospel of Christ.
We imposed our civilization as a condition for accepting the gospel.
We tried to make you be like us and in so doing we helped to destroy the vision that made you what you were. As a result you, and we, are poorer and the image of the Creator in us is twisted, blurred, and we are not what we are meant by God to be.
We ask you to forgive us and to walk together with us in the Spirit of Christ so that our peoples may be blessed and God's creation healed.