‘This is a historic moment for the people of Canada,’ House poised to vote on papal apology for residential schools

The government's Indian residential schools, which ran from the 1840s until 1996, took 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children away from their families. Some 32,000 were sexually assaulted and 6,000 died. The House will vote on Tuesday, requesting Pope Francis apologize for the Catholic Church's role in what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls a 'cultural genocide.'

Quebec NDP MP Romeo Saganash, who was forced to attend a residential school along with his 13 siblings, briefly noted in the House that he had not put his name forward to speak on the motion. 'The reason for that is pretty simple. I have gone to residential school, 10 years in my case. When people are being invited to speak about that experience, they are being invited to relive that trauma. I was not prepared to do that.'The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

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BY JOLSON LIM

April 30, 2018

NDP MP Gord Johns talked about his two uncles who died after their lives were "completely destroyed" by the Indian residential schools, a fact long hidden from him because it was too painful for his family to talk about. Conserv...

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