As Canada began to phase out compulsory Indian residential schools in the 1950s, it found a new way to pursue its longstanding policy of forced assimilation. Over two decades starting in the early 1960s, thousands of First Nations children were taken from their families, often without consent, and placed in non-indigenous care. Yet, despite Ottawa’s shifting rhetoric on indigenous issues, the federal government has been remarkably slow to acknowledge its failure and compensate its many victims. Worse still, Ottawa continues to fight a series of class-action lawsuits filed in recent years by survivors. The Trudeau government, which has promised “a renewed relationship between the federal government and indigenous peoples built on trust, recognition and respect for rights,” should stop contesting the suit, apologize for the Sixties Scoop and compensate survivors.

Source: thestar August 22, 2016 21:11 UTC