Canada primate welcomes historic apology to aboriginal abuse victims

|PIC1|The Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, said he was moved by the Canadian prime minister's historic apology to aboriginal victims of residential school abuse on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper fought back tears at one point as he told legislators and aboriginal representatives in a packed Parliamentary chamber that there could be no excuses for the abuse of aboriginal children in the schools.

Run by the Anglican, Roman Catholic, United and Presbyterian Churches, the schools were charged by the government with the job of assimilating indigenous children from the 1870s to the 1970s.

"The government of Canada sincerely apologises and asks the forgiveness of the aboriginal peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly. We are sorry," said Harper in a 15-minute address.

Around 150,000 aboriginal children were forced to live in the residential schools, where, according to accounts from survivors, children were beaten for speaking in their native languages and were told they would be damned unless they converted to Christianity. The abuse, they tell, ranged from mental, to physical and sexual.

Many native leaders believe that the social problems, including high unemployment and alcoholism, rife within Canada's one million-strong aboriginal community today are the direct result of the abuse meted out by school supervisors.

The head of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, said the apology "for this dreadful chapter in our shared history" would ensure the survival of Canada's aboriginal people.

"Finally, we heard Canada say it is sorry," he told Parliament, his voice breaking.

"It is possible to end our racial nightmare together. The memories of residential schools sometimes cut like merciless knives at our souls. This day will help us to put that pain behind us," said Fontaine, wearing a full native headdress.

Archbishop Hiltz said he was optimistic that the Canadian Government would take the necessary steps to turn the apology into a better quality of life for Canada's aboriginal population.

"I was equally grateful for the apologies - and that's what they were -?offered on behalf of the other political parties," he said in an interview with the magazine of the Anglican Church of Canada, Anglican Journal, on Parliament Hill.

Harper's apology was followed by apologies from other party leaders.

"I was very encouraged by their determination to make sure that this apology is seen as a beginning, and that it will be accompanied by actions that will significantly improve the quality of life for First Nations people in this land," added Archbishop Hiltz.

The Anglican Church of Canada, which operated around 30 of the schools between 1820 and 1969, issued a formal apology for its role in the abuse in 1993, around the time that the other major Churches in Canada offered their apologies to the aboriginal population.

The national indigenous bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada, Bishop Mark MacDonald, told the Anglican Journal that he was happy with the government's apology.

"I'm going to be processing it for a long time," he said. "It was an extraordinary event and I was very happy with what I heard and moved by what I heard and I'm filled with all kinds of emotions. So it will take me a while to process it but I thought it was an extraordinary day and one of the best days of my life."?