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Ceremony marks one year since Canadian apology
Friday, June 12, 2009
Filed Under: First Nations

Native leaders and former students of residential schools gathered across Canada to mark the one-year anniversary of the government's official apology.

As part of a $1.9 billion settlement, the government apologies for taking Native children from their communities and forcing them to attend boarding schools. Many students suffered emotional, physical, mental and sexual abuse.

"I had waited all of my life to hear somebody accept responsibility for the sadness in my life — for the loss in my life, for the dysfunction and the anger and the rage. It helped to hear the prime minister of this country say, 'I'm sorry.'" Chief Robert Joseph, who attended a school in British Columbia, told CBC News.

But not everyone believes the government has been acting honorably. Tim Thompson, the chief of the Akwesasne Mohawk First Nation, called a top official a "liar" regarding an ongoing dispute at the U.S.-Canada border.

The minister of public safety, Peter Van Loan, is a liar," Thompson said at a one-year ceremony in Ottawa that was attended by Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl, the Canadian Press reported. "And he continues to lie to the Canadian people when he states the Mohawks have been consulted. He doesn't know what consultation is."

Get the Story:
Ceremony marks 1st anniversary of residential school apology (CBC 6/11)
Commitments from apology not met: chiefs (The Winnipeg Free Press 6/12)
Anger rife on day of forgiveness (Metro Ottawa 6/12)
Day of reconciliation turns into confrontation over border dispute (CP 6/12)
Residential apology one year later (Sun Media 6/12)