Ontario has finally faced up to the truth about the abuse of First Nations children in residential schools — now comes the reconciliation.

Premier Kathleen Wynne formally apologized Monday for the mistreatment of indigenous peoples and pledged to right the wrongs from one of the darkest chapters in Canada’s history.

In a statement to the legislature, Wynne delivered the province’s official response to last year’s 381-page report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on the cultural genocide of aboriginal people.

“From coast-to-coast-to-coast, the residential school system set out to ‘take the Indian out of the child,’ by removing indigenous children from their homes and systematically stripping them of their languages, cultures, laws and rights. Children were physically, emotionally and sexually abused. Many died,” the premier said, looking up at survivors in the visitors’ gallery.

“Thank you for finding the strength and courage to come forward and tell your stories — and the stories of those who were lost. In opening our eyes, you have given us this chance to move forward as partners and the opportunity to say we are sorry,” said Wynne, whose native son-in-law was also in the legislature with his two oldest children: her granddaughters.

“So before I go on, I want to show my respect for all the survivors and all the victims by offering a formal apology for the abuses of the past,” she said during the moving 105-minute ceremony.

“As premier, I apologize for the policies and practices supported by past Ontario governments and for the harm they caused. I apologize for the province’s silence in the face of abuses and deaths at residential schools. And I apologize for the fact that the residential schools are only one example of systemic, intergenerational injustices inflicted upon indigenous communities throughout Canada.”

Last June, Justice Murray Sinclair’s exposé of the horrors of Canada’s residential schools system made 94 calls for action — all of which Ontario has embraced.

To that end, the province is spending $250 million over the next three years on “understanding the legacy of residential schools, closing gaps and removing barriers, creating a culturally relevant and responsive justice system, support indigenous culture, and reconciling relationships with indigenous people.”

Significantly, if symbolically, the premier announced the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs is being renamed the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation.

The rechristened department will still be led by David Zimmer, who on Monday passed legislation proclaiming the first week of November “Treaties Recognition Week” to raise awareness about the 46 different legally binding treaty relationships in Ontario.

From the floor of the legislature, Rev. Andrew Wesley, a residential schools survivor, spoke powerfully about his ordeal.

“To me, reconciliation didn’t mean anything for a long time. Why should I reconcile? I didn’t do anything wrong. Why? I was taken away. I was beaten up. But I didn’t do anything wrong. Why should I reconcile to the government and to the church?” Wesley told a hushed house.

“But, because of my wife and her strength and her encouragement, I started to understand what reconciliation is all about. And as I get older, I started to understand more that I have to talk about the abuse and be able to release the pain that I was carrying. Now I understand what reconciliation is all about. I understand.”

Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day expressed hope that Wynne’s apology “opens a door” for First Nations peoples.

“We . . . see a number of survivors from community residential schools that came into the legislature today. And that’s very significant because what it marks is that this is not only the end of an era, but it’s also the beginning of a process,” Day told reporters.

“What the Ontario government continues to do, it continues to look at ways in which it can enhance and improve relationships with indigenous people,” he said.

“So I think with this announcement, with the investment, the fact that residential school survivors are involved, and this government is starting to reshape what the relationship looks like (is beneficial).”

Margaret Froh, President of the Métis Nation of Ontario, said Monday was a good first step in moving “forward with this process of reconciliation.”

“We’ve got a long way to go. I think ultimately, for us, a full reconciliation means recognition of our rights as a self-determining people . . . self-government for Métis or First Nations, for Inuit people. And we’re a long way off from that, but (this is) certainly a good step,” she said.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown reminded the legislature of the toll residential schools took on generations of children.

“The numbers are staggering: Over 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis youth were part of the residential school system. Torn from their homes, they were forced to assimilate to a culture not their own,” said Brown.

While NDP Leader Andrea Horwath lauded the government’s commitment to reconciliation, she pointed to the challenges facing native people today — including the polluted Wabigoon River that is harming the Grassy Narrows First Nation near Kenora.

“We must all show — all of us — the political will and the determination that exists today to solve the problems that communities face, to ensure that everyone in this province has safe drinking water and safe housing; to clean up lands and rivers that are contaminated with toxins,” said Horwath.

Asked later about a new report suggesting mercury contamination in the Wabigoon dating back the 1960s is getting worse but could be cleaned up, Wynne pledged to take it seriously.

“If there is new science that shows that there’s a way to clean up that water and to get that mercury out without causing more damage, I would be thrilled,” the premier said Monday.

About nine tonnes of mercury was discharged upstream by a pulp and paper mill upstream from the reserve in northwestern Ontario, contaminating water and fish and causing debilitating illnesses from brain damage to skin irritations.

A report prepared for Grassy Narrows and released Monday concluded contamination is spreading and said any sources of continued poisoning must be plugged, along with dredging contaminated sediments from hot spots.

Clean-up could cost at least $50 million, not including the cost of dredging or finding continued sources of contamination, said John Rudd, a former federal scientist who co-authored the report and insisted “significant improvements” can be made to the damaged ecosystem. Other estimates for the clean-up have been as high as $120 million.

RELATED:

Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report details deaths of 3,201 children in residential schools

Highlights of the Commission’s recommendations

With files from Rob Ferguson

Read more about: