Forgiving Our History

‘Ultimately, a government in such a position must concede that even if the tragedy is officially recognized, and even if appropriate repartitions are put forward, it is impossible to truly amend the effects of past atrocities. Nothing may compare to the suffering of an entire people. However, the Canadian government did realize that there is worth in investing to ensure that such events never occur again. In 2008, the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established to not only further investigate claims launched against residential schools, but also to increase awareness of the events of this dark chapter in Canadian history. The Commission was responsible for numerous findings concerning the residential schools, most notably being that over 4,000 Aboriginal children died in residential school as a result of abuse and poor conditions.  It is information like this that led former Governor General and Commission supporter Michaëlle Jean to say that "When the present does not recognize the wrongs of the past, the future takes its revenge." It is therefore clear that, with these various initiatives surrounding remembrance and commemoration, the Canadian government is trying to keep the memory of those who suffered alive, so that similar suffering will not occur in the future.’