|Print this page| Apology to Former Students of Indian
Residential Schools |Date:||11 June 2008| |Sub
Category:||Statement of Commitment/Intention| |Click this link
to search this location with google maps| |Subject
Matter:||Compensation | Cultural Heritage | Education |
Reconciliation | Youth| |On 11 June 2008, the Prime Minister of
Canada, Stephen Harper, presented a formal apology in the
Canadian House of Commons to the former students of Indian
residential schools. From the 1870s, over 150,000 aboriginal
children were separated from their families and communities in
Canada to be put in Indian residential schools (see Hansard
2008). | |Text of the Apology and Speeches| The full text of the
Apology is available from the House of Commons Hansard (see the
URL link above). Prime Minister Harper described the historical
circumstances of the establishment of the schools, based on a
policy of assimilation which he said was now recognized as wrong
and harmful. He spoke of the forcible removal of children from
home