FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BLOCKS RELEASE OF DOCUMENTS CONCERNING RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS SYSTEM

This is disappointing in that I can't seem to get a link to yesterday's Waterloo Region Record story titled "Truth commission taking Ottawa to court". I remember four years ago being impressed with Prime Minister Harper for apologizing for Canada's role in the Indian residential schools system and scandal. It was a typical case of a lack of transparency and accountability combined with benign neglect and criminal negligence. Indian children were treated horribly in these residential schools and they had no way out. Meanwhile the authorities blindly looked the other way and clearly could care less about those vulnerable children.


Part of the legal settlement following lawsuits against both the churches involved and the Canadian government included the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Apparently our federal Conservative government feels that the apology and some financial compensation are adequate despite the Court's insistence upon more. Documents are supposed to be made available that have not been. What among other things that shocked me was the claim in yesterday's article that some schools had mortality rates that reached 50 per cent. One fatal goof on the highway can mean prison time. How many of the bureaucrats and government employees or even politicians do you think ever saw the inside of a jail cell for their behaviour or lack thereof causing deaths of children? Canada has no grounds to feel smug or superior in regards to how our authorities have handled vulnerable populations over the decades.