BishopAccountability.org
	Open Letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper from the Honourable Stéphane Dion, Leader of the Opposition Liberal June 5, 2008 http://www.liberal.ca/story_14045_e.aspx Dear Prime Minister, I write to you regarding your government's proposed statement of apology to the survivors of Canada's Residential Schools on June 11th. Such an apology from the Government of Canada is a critical first step in the healing and reconciliation process with Canada's aboriginal peoples. This apology must be treated with the importance and historic consideration it deserves. Unfortunately, as in many other instances, Members of Parliament have received only vague answers from both your Minister of Indian Affairs and your House Leader on your government's plan for delivering the Government of Canada's apology on June 11th. I have also been contacted by aboriginal organizations who have expressed a deep concern over the lack of consultation about issues such as the nature, timing and substance of the apology. Surely one week before the scheduled date, out of respect for the survivors, your government should be open about these details. I wish to convey my concerns about both the content of the apology and the aspects of the ceremony your Government is organizing. Given the importance of such a statement for future relations between Aboriginal Peoples and the Government of Canada, it is crucial that the statement of apology be done right. The apology must recognize Canada's responsibility in the creation of Residential Schools and the environment which fostered so much abuse. Although the House of Commons is the rightful place to deliver such an apology, steps must be taken to open the ceremony to all survivors. As the public galleries in the House of Commons will not accommodate the number of survivors and aboriginal Canadians who want to witness this historic event, it would be important to allow them and other Canadians to follow the ceremony on television screens set outside on Parliament Hill. Such a historic day needs to involve representatives of Canada's First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples. They should be given, as should also the representatives of survivors, the opportunity to both respond and accept the apology on the floor of the House of Commons. I also believe, and I ask you, that every party leader in the House of Commons be afforded the opportunity to deliver their own statement. Given the symbolic importance of this apology, I also ask that you extend an invitation to the formal ceremony in Parliament to all former living Canadian Prime Ministers. The invitation itself, and indeed their presence in the House of Commons, would be a true gesture of respect and reconciliation to the survivors and their families. For the process of reconciliation to move forward, survivors of Residential Schools must accept the Government of Canada's apology. It is therefore crucial that Canada's Aboriginal Peoples not feel slighted by the apology and the ceremony. I would ask that you respond quickly to these suggestions aimed at strengthening Canada's relationship with its aboriginal population. Sincerely yours, Stéphane Dion, PC, MP
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.