Canada's apology for residential schools translated into 7 Indigenous languages, 10 years after its delivery

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Ottawa, June 11 (Canadian-Media): An announcement was made today by Carolyn Bennett, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Minister that ten years after the delivery of Government's formal apology for residential schools by then-prime minister Stephen Harper on the floor of the House of Commons, the same has been translated into seven Indigenous languages, media reports said.

Carolyn Bennett. Image credit: Facebook page

Educational videos about this dark chapter in Canada's history -- highlighting the damage they did to Indigenous people through their efforts to compel Indigenous children to assimilate into mainstream culture -- will also reportedly be ready for use in schools, beginning this fall.

Bennett  called it a "small step" on the path to reconciliation.
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"This is being done not only because it's important for Indigenous people to hear these words in their own languages. It will also help further education on the destructive legacy of residential schools and help promote the languages that so many students and families lost as a result of these past experiences," she said.

"This is a linear relationship, and we have to be much better about dealing head-on with what that trauma has done and be ever watchful to make sure nothing (like it) can happen again," she said.

The apology has been translated into seven languages for distribution and posting online at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation website. The languages are: Mohawk, Plains Cree, Western Ojibway, Mi'kmaq, Inuktitut, Dene and Algonquin

The survivors of  residential school in Ontario had reportedly said the government has an obligation to improve living conditions for Indigenous people like clean water, good housing and good health. 

On June 10, 2008, Harper admitted the policy that forced Indigenous children from their homes and families into church-run schools was wrong and caused great harm.

"The government of Canada sincerely apologizes and asks the forgiveness of the Aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly. We are sorry," he said at the time.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)​