Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, BC – The First Nations Summit is pleased with the rulings by superior courts in six provinces and the Yukon territory to approve the residential school settlement agreement. Compensation for residential school survivors and a national dialogue of truth and reconciliation on the legacy of this system are long overdue. Reconciliation, however, begins with recognition and acknowledgement of the past – the foundation for rebuilding trust, healing, and moving forward in a constructive manner.
“Reconciliation can only truly begin with an apology. We teach the basic lesson to our children that, when wrong, you must “say sorry” in order to continue forward with a relationship, or risk the consequences,” said Grand Chief Edward John of the First Nations Summit. “For Aboriginal students of residential schools, an apology will acknowledge the wrong suffered by them, validate their long struggle for compensation and redress, and allow them to consider forgiveness.”