Mr. Speaker, it’s an honour to second this motion, knowing the threat of residential schools and also that First Nations people in Canada have suffered under these long-held policies of past governments.

Yet, it’s still originates in our communities, from the suicides that we see, the alcoholism, the physical abuse — it’s still there today.

Mr. Speaker, I was amazed to find out that in my home community, Fort McPherson, there was a residential school operated by the church in 1895. That’s how far back you can go to recognize how this was implemented in Canada. We’ve had residential schools in Hay River, Fort Providence, most of the regional centres, Fort Simpson, Fort Smith. Along with my colleague, I went to a few of these places.

And yet the thing that stands out the most is to talk to your elders and hear of the experiences they went through. They were taken away from their parents at the age of five. They were taken to Hay River, and they were kept there till they were 12 years old, before they were let back home. Seven years you were put into that institution. Seven years you did not get to see your siblings, your parents, your grandparents, your relatives in your home community.

They send you back to your community after you’ve been gone for seven years, and you try to reunite with your family, not able to speak your aboriginal language to your parents, your grandparents, your siblings. Not being able to have the skills to sustain yourself in the harsh environment of a trapping community or a community that has to sustain itself through hunting, trapping and fishing. Not having those skills because you were put into a system that they were trying to brainwash you from having those abilities to carry out those skills.

Yet today we look around and see the problems that still originate in our communities. You can trace an individual’s family tree to where a lot of this stuff started from. It will take you all the way back to your grandparents, who were put in those institutions for seven years. And that’s why we’re burdened with problems we still see in our communities.

Mr. Speaker, as with anything else that happens around us, I think you get a lot more out of having an argument with somebody than simply saying, “Here’s a bunch of cash; we’ll take care of the problem,” rather than approaching an individual, confronting them and saying you’re sorry and honestly meaning that you’re sorry. It goes a lot more till you feel it in your heart. Money isn’t solving

your problems. I think an apology from the Government of Canada will go a long way, like it did in Australia from the Prime Minister there, to make that public announcement and to basically have the reaction of the indigenous people of Australia. The same thing should happen here in Canada.

With that, I look forward to the support of all the colleagues in this House in directing the Prime Minister of Canada to seriously apologize to all the aboriginal people of Canada. Thank you.

Applause.