Whether you think he really felt that apology or was mostly pressured into it, it still marks a dramatic point in Canadian history to have Prime Minister Stephen Harper issue a formal public apology to the students/survivors of the Indian Residential School system. To hear someone in a position of power actually, finally, speak those words out loud, was the beginning of something deeply positive. I felt the apology resonate within me, because personally, I truly feel remorseful and sympathetic towards the children that had to endure the horrors of those schools without any defense, being torn from their families and made to feel ashamed of their heritage, and ashamed of themselves as people. As a human being, I feel my own heart ache when I think of the pain and the suffering those children went through, and the suffering their parents and families went through when their children were taken from their homes and forced into a life that never really wanted them, a life that abused them and stole from them their beautiful and profound culture and heritage.
The government of Canada stripped the soul of the aboriginal people with systems like the Indian Residential Schools, and the lasting effects of those emotionally and physically violent actions continue to reverberate in our society today, on so many painful levels. When I think of that part of our history it makes me feel ashamed of my country, and if nothing else, Harper's apology was for me a spiritual cleansing of sorts. I felt as if my own expressions of healing energy were being sent out to those who had suffered, and just the energy of that alone made me feel more connected to this earth and to the Canada that I love.
The reality now is that we can only move forward, and that is the most encouraging part of it all. How could we have ever gotten anywhere with that huge elephant in the room? How could we, as a nation, have really ever moved forward with a complete lack of acknowledgment and responsibility for what happened all those years ago, and what is continuing to go awry in the aboriginal community as a result of that treatment? We can not go back in time and fix the mistakes our ancestors. We can not undo what has been done, and we can not ever apologize enough to right the wrongs of the past. But we can move forward in a new and positive direction that begins with humility and understanding, with our mistakes acknowledged and out in the open, and that is what this apology signified to me.
Whether or not you believe Harper apologized because of public pressure, the only thing that matters is that other people felt it, other Canadians felt that apology and meant it, and aboriginal peoples received that apology, in the essence of its energy and the true meaning behind it. And once you change that energy, the world opens up to you, and you can change anything. But without exception, is absolutely has to begin with the heart.
The government of Canada stripped the soul of the aboriginal people with systems like the Indian Residential Schools, and the lasting effects of those emotionally and physically violent actions continue to reverberate in our society today, on so many painful levels. When I think of that part of our history it makes me feel ashamed of my country, and if nothing else, Harper's apology was for me a spiritual cleansing of sorts. I felt as if my own expressions of healing energy were being sent out to those who had suffered, and just the energy of that alone made me feel more connected to this earth and to the Canada that I love.
The reality now is that we can only move forward, and that is the most encouraging part of it all. How could we have ever gotten anywhere with that huge elephant in the room? How could we, as a nation, have really ever moved forward with a complete lack of acknowledgment and responsibility for what happened all those years ago, and what is continuing to go awry in the aboriginal community as a result of that treatment? We can not go back in time and fix the mistakes our ancestors. We can not undo what has been done, and we can not ever apologize enough to right the wrongs of the past. But we can move forward in a new and positive direction that begins with humility and understanding, with our mistakes acknowledged and out in the open, and that is what this apology signified to me.
Whether or not you believe Harper apologized because of public pressure, the only thing that matters is that other people felt it, other Canadians felt that apology and meant it, and aboriginal peoples received that apology, in the essence of its energy and the true meaning behind it. And once you change that energy, the world opens up to you, and you can change anything. But without exception, is absolutely has to begin with the heart.
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