After the Apology

We still have to struggle, but now we are in this together. I reach out to all Canadians today in this spirit of reconciliation. — National Chief Phil Fontaine responding to Stephen Harper’s historic apology in the House of Commons

Marie Wadden’s latest book, Where the Pavement Ends: Canada’s Aboriginal Recovery Movement and the Urgent Need for Reconciliation, comes at an important time in Canada’s history. On June 11, 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper rose in the House of Commons and offered an apology to aboriginal people, and indeed all Canadians, for the sad legacy of residential schools. The apology came on the heels of a landmark settlement with residential school survivors intended to compensate their pain and suffering, and prior to the launch of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was struck to help all involved heal from this terrible history. The question left unanswered is...