In an event that will for be known for centuries as “The Apology ”, yesterday marked one of the most important events in Canadian history. Prime Minister Steven Harper made an official apology on behalf on the government of Canada, finally, to Aboriginal Canadians for the assimilating, genocidal policies of the Residential Schools. Yes, genocidal: according to the United Nations, one group’s attempt to alter another group, via familial and cultural transmission of values, is a form of genocide. Prime Minister Harper admits that the absence of an apology has been an impediment on the healing process for these acts of genocide.
“About 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children were removed from their communities . . . and forced to attend one of the country’s 130-odd residential schools. Overseen by the Department of Indian Affairs, the schools aimed to force aboriginal children to learn English and adopt Christianity and Western customs as part of a government policy called “aggressive assimilation.”” –CBC
Many of these students endured every manner of abuse: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and neglect. There are 86,000 former students of Residential Schools living in Canada today. These genocidal acts have creates a network of abuse, miseducation, and psychological trauma that has, in many ways, poisoned communities of Aboriginal Canadians. This does not mean that Aboriginal Canadians have not moved past these horrific past actions, in fact they have displayed incredible strength and vitality in the face of cultural genocide. 
The greatest book I have read focusing on Residential Schools is the quasi-autobiographical novel by Tomson Highway, “Kiss of the Fur Queen”. As a former residential school student turned piano protege, turned playwright, Highway’s story blends traditional Native spirituality with poetic prose and a roller coaster of a plot that follows the lives of two Cree brothers from northern Manitoba as they are forced into residential schools and then move to Winnipeg. It’s a dense and surreal text, but it weaves humour and wit into a story of profound tragedy.
I commend the Government of Canada for The Apology and, if you aren’t up to date on the facts of Residential Schools in Canada, I highly recommend that you look into it. It is one of our country’s darkest and most concealed secrets. Hopefully it won’t be a secret any longer.
Allan
