Canada Apologizes for Past Mistreatment of Indigenous Tribes

The Washington Post reports that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued an official apology on the floor of the House of Commons to the indigenous people of Canada. Harper solemnly condemned many years of abuse and the government's effort to "wipe out our aboriginal culture and assimilate native Canadians into European-dominated society." The apology comes on the heels of a record class action settlement in 2006, in which the Canadian government awarded payments to former students of Indian residential schools who were physically and sexually abused.

A resolution that would solicit a similar apology from President Bush, on behalf of Native Americans in this country, was approved by the Senate in February and is awaiting consideration in the House.

Public Agenda's report, Walking A Mile: A First Step Toward Mutual Understanding, examines a multitude of perception gaps between American Indians and non-Indians regarding Indian heritage and their current status in society. Focus groups of Indians throughout the country revealed conflicted emotions. Some described the way their ancestors were mistreated as analogous to the Holocaust. Others were more forgiving, one Oklahoma woman, for example, saying: "The people that did it are dead." Most believed non-Indians had only the most superficial knowledge of the atrocities and oppression that occurred.

In parallel focus groups, non-Indians did, in fact, recognize the tragedies of prejudice and displacement. But overall, they had little sense of Indian history after the close of the 19th century, when the government led its assimilation campaign of removing Indian youth from their tribes and forcing them into boarding schools.