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Prime Minister Harper's Apology
As part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established. Before its work got under way, Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a public apology on June 11, 2008, on behalf of the Canadian government. The apology is part of the process arranged by the government and the First Nations as parties to the agreement, part of an overall attempt to address the government’s role in the history of the Indian Residential Schools.
![Graphic from cover of "Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools."](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/SL_graphic5.png?h=bc3345c8&itok=_uc8CaVR)
Truth and Reconciliation
Since the beginning of its work in 2010, the commission has been collecting information about what was done to survivors in the residential schools and has worked to make this information public. From this process, the survivors receive public, communal acknowledgement and support for years of injustice and suffering.
![Graphic from cover of "Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools."](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/SL_graphic5.png?h=bc3345c8&itok=_uc8CaVR)
Vérité et réconciliation
En 2010, la Commission pour la vérité et la réconciliation a commencé à recueillir des renseignements concernant l'expérience des Survivants et des Survivantes dans les écoles résidentielles et a déployé des efforts pour rendre ces renseignements publics. Ce processus a fourni aux Survivants et aux Survivantes une reconnaissance publique et commune de leurs nombreuses années d'injustice et de souffrance.
![Graphic from cover of "Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools."](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/SL_graphic5.png?h=bc3345c8&itok=_uc8CaVR)
The Charge of Genocide
In the 1990s, residential schools scholars and many indigenous leaders began to argue that the efforts of the Canadian government to assimilate the Indigenous Peoples in the residential schools embodied the principle of cultural genocide: assimilation was intended to destroy the Indigenous Peoples as culturally distinct group.
![Graphic from cover of "Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools."](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/SL_graphic5.png?h=bc3345c8&itok=_uc8CaVR)
L'accusation de génocide
Dans les années 1990, des chercheurs sur les pensionnats et de nombreux leaders autochtones ont commencé à affirmer que les efforts du gouvernement canadien pour assimiler les Peuples Autochtones dans les pensionnats incarnaient le principe du génocide culturel : l'intention de détruire les Peuples Autochtones en tant que groupe culturel distinct.
![Graphic from cover of "Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools."](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/SL_graphic5.png?h=bc3345c8&itok=_uc8CaVR)
Prime Minister Harper’s Apology
The apology is part of the process arranged by the government and the First Nations as parties to the agreement, part of an overall attempt to address the government’s role in the history of the Indian Residential Schools.
![Graphic from cover of "Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools."](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/SL_graphic5.png?h=bc3345c8&itok=_uc8CaVR)
Apartheid Policies
Read the National Party’s 1948 statement in support of apartheid, which justifies separation as a way to preserve the white European race.
![The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (passed in 1953) led to signs such as the one shown above. The Act prohibited people of different races from using the same public amenities.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Apartheid_Era_Sign.jpg?h=77e8015d&itok=b86oNSyE)
Experiencing Apartheid
Writer Mtutuzeli Matshoba provides a vivid account of life under apartheid through the story of his friend who was forcibly ejected from his home.
![A child walks to school through the barren village of Qunu, South Africa, located just outside of the town of Mthatha.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Democracy_2013_GirlWalkingtoSchoolMthatha_FH281816.jpg?h=a5f2f23a&itok=lR43Ngto)
The Freedom Charter
Examine the 1955 Freedom Charter, established by the ANC and supporting groups, which calls for all races to enjoy equal rights, protections, and benefits under the law.
![A group of resisters proudly pose after their release from prison in Durban during the Defiance Campaign Against Unjust Laws, 1952.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Democracy_1952_TheDefianceCampaign_FH281822.jpg?h=56feb499&itok=2LnEBZM4)
Mandela on Trial
Nelson Mandela describes the ANC and PAC’s shift from non-violent resistance of apartheid to violent sabotage under the militant faction MK in his testimony during the Rivonia Trial.
!["A young Nelson Mandela poses for a photograph in Umtata shortly before moving to Fort Beaufort to attend Healdtown Comprehensive School. "](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Nelson_Mandela_Medium_res.jpg?h=623540e1&itok=0V950_BY)
A Wife's Lament
Consider the unique experiences of black South African women during apartheid, many of whom were forced to live far away from their husbands on bantustans.
![A group of women hold signs in demonstration against the pass laws in Cape Town on August 9, 1956, the same day as the massive women’s protest in Pretoria.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Democracy_1956_WomenResistPassLaws_FH281823.jpg?h=cb9047e7&itok=NA94IMQt)