OTTAWA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Friday made a formal apology to former students of residential schools in Canada's most eastern province of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL).
He also apologized to the families and communities for the painful and tragic legacy the residential schools left behind, acknowledging his words alone are not enough to heal the wounds of the past.
Delivering the apology before an audience of hundreds in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL, Trudeau said the apology was long overdue, and a stain on the relationship between the Indigenous people of NL province and those non-Indigenous individuals who claimed to be educating them.
Between 1949 and 1979, thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their communities to attend five residential schools that were run by the International Grenfell Association (IGA) or Moravians. Many students reportedly were sexually and physically abused, and suffered language and cultural losses.
The prime minister called on Canadians "to take part in the next chapter, a time when Indigenous and non-Indigenous people build the future we want together."
Some 1,000 students who had attended residential schools accepted a 50 million Canadian dollars (around 40 million U.S. dollars) settlement last year from the Trudeau government after launching a class-action lawsuit.
