Aboriginal leaders, opposition parties demand 'real action' on residential schools report

Former Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Phil Fontaine (right to left), Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt, current AFN Chief Perry Bellegarde and National Inuit Leader Terry Audla, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, look on at the release of the report on Canada's residential school system at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 2, 2015. (THE CANADIAN PRESS / Adrian Wyld)

Aboriginal leaders and opposition parties are urging the federal government to immediately act after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released an executive summary of its report Tuesday.

The commission’s report on Canada’s residential schools found that the system amounted to “cultural genocide” by forcibly removing aboriginal children from their families, customs and identities.

During question period in the House of Commons Tuesday, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s 2008 apology to First Nations is “only meaningful if it is accompanied by real action.”

Mulcair asked Harper how he planned to respond to the TRC report and whether he agreed with the finding that the residential school system was “nothing short of cultural genocide.”

Harper did not directly answer the question, but said that the Conservative government has made “multiple actions over the years” to improve the lives of aboriginal people in Canada, including funding for education programs.

Harper said the residential schools were “a policy of forced assimilation that not only destroyed the lives of individuals, but of entire families and society and it has had long last implications on entire communities in his country.”

Speaking at a TRC news conference shortly before question period, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt said he’s “confident that we can build on the work that has been done.”

He said that Canada wants to “reaffirm” its commitment to reconciliation and will continue to work with aboriginal groups and leaders.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau also pressed Harper on the TRC report during question period, saying that his party accepts all of the commission’s 94 recommendations.

Harper said his government will first examine the recommendations before deciding “the next steps.”

Perry Bellegarde, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, told a TRC news conference Tuesday that residential school survivors and their families deserve “nothing less than transformative change.”

He said that without government action, Harper’s words from 2008 will end up being an “empty, meaningless apology.”