Former Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Minister of Manitoba Eric Robinson was in northern BC for Orange Shirt Day to remember residential school survivors.
As a survivor, Eric Robinson spoke at the Gitanmaax Hall in Hazelton about how the province of Manitoba made an apology after the federal government apologized in 2008.
Robinson says it’s about time BC did the same.
“I think that governments are claiming to be in a spirit of reconciliation right now…so I think that in BC it’s a so-called indigenous friendly government, so I think that they ought to take the lead role in this part of the country,” says Robinson.
He wants Stikine MLA Doug Donaldson and Premier John Horgan take that lead as soon as possible.
“It’s time for you to say your apologies to the people – the First Nations of British Columbia including the Gitxsan, Witsuwit’en and others – that experienced this great injustice here in British Columbia.”
Robinson says even though the assimilation policies were primarily the federal government’s fault, he says the province’s remained silent back in the day.
He says many survivors are yet to tell their story and says reconciliation is going to be a long process.
“It was a 100-year experiment – over 100 years before it was brought to the attention of the world. Now, repairing ourselves is going to take another generation or two,” says Robinson.
“Reconciliation is part of what is going on here in Gitanmaax and the joining of people that may not know what occurred,” says Robinson.