Facebook users urged to say ‘sorry’ for residential schools
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2009 (5939 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Justin Jaron Lewis is changing his Facebook status to "is sorry" on June 11, and he wants others to join him as he commemorates the first anniversary of the federal government’s apology to residential school survivors.
Lewis, an assistant professor with the University of Manitoba’s religion department, started a Facebook group whose members pledge to, once a year, use their status on the popular social-networking site as a reminder of the apology.
Last June, Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized for the suffering faced by First Nations, Inuit and Métis children who were forced to attend the residential schools run by the federal government, often in partnership with Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian or United missionaries.
Lewis started his group — "I’m changing my Facebook status to ‘is sorry’ on June 11” — on April 24, and since then it has grown to 600 members.
"… It’s just mushrooming," Lewis said. But he hopes that more people will join before the anniversary of the apology on Thursday.
His group is modelled on a similar Facebook group set up to commemorate the Australian government’s apology to that country’s indigenous population. The Australian group currently has more than 7,000 members.
While Lewis said he’s always been aware of the controversy surrounding residential schools, he said his knowledge of the issue grew when he moved to Manitoba from Ontario.
"Coming to Winnipeg, I’ve been very aware of the large aboriginal community here," he said. "Going back to the (Louis) Riel resistance, there’s such a sense of history here around justice for (First Nations) people."
While anyone is welcome to join the group, Lewis said he hopes non-aboriginals will take time to join: "My thought is that this (group) is essentially for people in Canada who are not part of First Nations communities to express our apologies to those people who are First Nations, really as a way of recognizing that we’re here — for better or worse — as the result of a whole historical process of colonialism and dispossession of the (aboriginal) people."
arielle.godbout@freepress.mb.ca