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Thousands of academics gather in Regina this week for the annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, presenting papers on everything from why Black people tend not to ski and how to cook ethically with garbage to whether it is wrong to lie to children about the Tooth Fairy. In its Oh, The Humanities! series, the National Post showcases some of the most interesting research. Here, Joseph Brean reports on political apologies.

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In their 2007 book How To Be A Canadian (Even If You Already Are One), the humourists Ian and Will Ferguson suggested there are 12 versions of the Canadian “sorry.”

They are: simple, essential, occupational, subservient, aristocratic, demonstrative, libidinous, ostentatious, mythical, unrepentant, sympathetic and authentic.

But according to research presented at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Regina, there is another kind of Canadian apology that is becoming both a “spectacle” and a “trend,” and there is nothing funny about it at all.