The Power of Public Contrition

All these things my hand has made,
    and so all these things are mine,^[a]
says the Lord.
But this is the one to whom I will look,
    to the humble and contrite in spirit,
    who trembles at my word.

Isaiah 66:2

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said sorry once again yesterday. This time he apologized on behalf of the Canadian people for the execution of six chiefs of  the Tsilhqot'in community 150 years ago in the British Columbia interior. Colonial officials invited the chiefs for peacekeeping talks where they were instead arrested, tried and hanged.

In what proved to be an emotional apology Trudeau offered "Those are mistakes that our government profoundly regrets and are determined to set right.The treatment of the Tsilhqot'in chiefs represents a betrayal of trust, an injustice that you have carried for more than 150 years," 

Chief Joe Alphonse, tribal chairman of the Tsilhqot'in Nation, said the apology was significant not only because it was the first time that a prime minister visited Tsilhqot'in lands, but because it was made directly to community members. This visit was a follow-up to a "statement of exoneration" in the House of Commons this past March.
 

The PM isn't finished with the apologies. On Wednesday of this week Trudeau will issue a formal apology in parliament for Canadian complicity in rejecting the MS St. Louis, a refugee ship with Jews aboard who were fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939. The Americans also turned away the St. Louis which eventually returned to Europe where at least 250 of the passengers perished.



MS St Louis passengers

These are two amongst a series of public apologies for historic events which are part of the dark history of racism, colonialism, and homophobia in this country. While we have much to be proud of as Canadians there have also been ugly episodes and systemic wrong-doing which we can't ignore. These acts of contrition can't change the past, but acknowledging them can open the door to reconciliation and shape relationships today and into the future.

There are numerous calls for contrition, repentance, a change of heart, in scripture. We engage in sinful and destructive behaviour individually and corporately, sometimes intentionally and often by omission.To say we're sorry and to promise we'll make amends is the moral and ethical imperative of our Judeo-Christian heritage but also the sign of a mature and healthy secular society.

Now, if the Trudeau government would repent of buying a pipeline with taxpayers money, and perhaps if the PM could give out a personal "my bad" for looking like a dope in India we could feel even more content.

What are your thoughts about public mea culpas? Do you applaud them or roll your eyes?