National Day of Reconciliation - Manitoba Member of Parliament

Larry Kusch Winnipeg Free Press 12/06/2009

People gather at Memorial Park Thursday to celebrate the one-year
anniversary of the federal government's public apology to First Nations.
(MIKE.APORIUS@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

Manitoba teachers will have greater resources this fall to teach grades 9
and 11 students about residential schools, Education Minister Peter
Bjornson told several hundred people marking the first anniversary Thursday
of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's apology to residential school survivors.

Bjornson told a predominately aboriginal crowd at Memorial Park that the
province is developing made-in-Manitoba educational resources, including a
bibliography, an interactive website and a video featuring archival footage
and interviews with residential school survivors from all regions of the
province.

In partnership with aboriginal organizations, the province is also
developing a residential schools survivors speakers bureau "so social
studies and history teachers will be able to call upon a wealth of
knowledge and experienced individuals to help them understand the
residential schools experience and how we can move forward together towards
reconciliation," Bjornson said.

The announcement was part of a daylong event featuring entertainment and
speeches by a host of native leaders. Many in attendance were residential
school survivors.

Culture and acting Aboriginal Affairs Minister Eric Robinson, who
represents the vast northern riding of Rupertsland, told the crowd the
federal apology "meant a lot to myself and yourselves as survivors of this
terrible, terrible experiment that was done by our national government."

After a brief speech, he invited elders to join him across the street to
the legislature, where he made a statement marking the anniversary.

"I'm a part of that bunch," he told the crowd beforehand, referring to the
politicians. "But don't think for a moment that I have forgotten who I am
as a Cree Indian. That is first and foremost in my mind. I will never
forget the tremendous abuses that I experienced in residential schools as
well. Let's cross the street with pride, with our chests sticking out being
proud of who we are as Indian people..."

A large group, led by a "grandfather drum," crossed Broadway and made its
way into the Legislative Building, where the sound of the large drum
reverberated off the high ceilings.

In the visitors gallery, the group listened as Robinson, in a ministerial
statement to the House, listed a number of NDP initiatives, including
equity partnerships for First Nations in the development of hydroelectric
dams, land use rights for First Nations east of Lake Winnipeg, and
increased investment in the University College of the North in The Pas.

But Robinson said much work needs to be done to improve First Nation
housing, increasing high school graduation rates for aboriginal students,
addressing the current H1N1 influenza outbreak, and "stopping the
outrageous national shame of our missing and murdered aboriginal women."

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