Yesterday's apology by Ontario for the evils of the residential schools system was important and appropriate. And the history of residential schools is surely a worthwhile topic for school history classes and for public commemoration and reflection.
But putting indigenous kids in those schools is not the only fault in Canadian relations with indigenous people. I admired what Ontario Métis leader Margaret Froh said yesterday, in calling the apology a good first step in moving “forward with this process of reconciliation.
“We’ve got a long way to go. I think ultimately, for us, a full reconciliation means recognition of our rights as a self-determining people . . . self-government for Métis or First Nations, for Inuit people. And we’re a long way off from that, but (this is) certainly a good step,” she said.Reconciliation is going to involve more than talking about schools. It's going to be about land and self-government too. We need some equality and some justice, and then reconciliation will be easier to achieve.
Image: Toronto Star.
