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The Cape Breton Post: Editorial | Apology policy goes sour Page 1 of 2 EDITORIAL Post a comment | View comments (1) | Last updated at 11:52 PM on 10/08/08 Apology policy goes sour The Cape Breton Post The bloom has faded from the rose of apology for Canada’s prime minister. The highlight came on June 11 when Stephen Harper, with a catch in his voice, delivered in the House of Commons the Statement of Apology on behalf of Canada to aboriginal victims of residential schools. That set a new benchmark for official contrition, never to be surpassed. What’s more, the statement came as part of a process that also established an Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission as part of $2 billion settlement reached among government, churches and representatives of some 90,000 former students. As a gesture of redress, all this would be a hard act to follow, and that’s a big problem with it in the view of anti-apologists. Critics such as The Globe and Mail’s Jeffrey Simpson, who refers derisively to “the apology industry,” don’t deny that aboriginal people have suffered grievously through government policy and that terrible wrongs were committed in the residential school system. But they hold to the view of a former prime minister, Pierre Trudeau, who believed we can be just only in our own time and official apologies for historic wrongs open the door to endless demands to acknowledge group grievances of the past. By this view, the problem with apologies is well illustrated in Harper’s experience the weekend before last when he delivered an apology to an Indo-Canadian audience in Surrey, B.C., on behalf of Parliament for Canada’s behaviour in the Komagata Maru incident of 1914. The name refers to a chartered ship that tried to land 376 mainly Sikh (but also Hindu and Muslim) Indians from the Punjab in Vancouver. The ship sat in harbour for two months and in the end only about 20 passengers, who had resident status, were allowed to land. The ship was escorted back to sea for the return to Calcutta, where a confrontation resulted in 20 deaths after it arrived. It’s one of those grim incidents, though not the only one, illustrating Canada’s highly selective — OK, racist — immigration policies of decades past. Does it warrant an official apology, and if so, with what status should that apology be invested? Harper decided to deliver the minimum, “conveying as prime minister,” to a public gathering in Surrey, the apology dictated by a Commons motion originating with Ontario Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla. For Indo-Canadian organizers who’d negotiated for the apology, and for some reason had expected it would be delivered in Parliament, it was the proverbial slap in the face. Chinese and Japanese Canadians got their apologies in Parliament, so there. Jason Kenney, Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity, tried to rescue his leader by explaining that Harper chose to speak in Surrey so he could reach the most people, “to maximize participation.” But Kenney unravelled his own spin by noting differences between the Komagata Maru incident, involving a few hundred non-Canadians 94 years ago, and, for example, thousands of Chinese residents in Canada being subjected to a head tax for decades or aboriginal Canadian citizens aggrieved as a result of the residential schools policy. So, yes, there is a hierarchy of grievances, as surely there must be when official apologies become the practice. Some people on the lower end of the scale of grievance will inevitably feel slighted instead of mollified. Politically speaking at least, official apology is a losing proposition. 11/08/08 Comments: This Conversation is Semi-Moderated. What is moderation? (Post a comment) Vern McPherson from Toronto, Ont writes: stevie ?? The poor little fella. He couldn't even keep a personally made promise to an 88 year old CB citizen who had been mistreated by the Vet affairs Dept for years. Then avoided her inside Parliament until he was so embarassed he had to speak with her. Or to seniors when he promised not to interfere with their Income trust investments. Apology ? It's Jason Kenny's idea of courting the ethnic vote and not much more. Sad ............. Posted 11/08/2008 at 6:50 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment NOTE The management of this site emphasizes that it is in no way liable for persons, physical or legal, who are hosted here. Moreover, the managers of this site may not be held liable for errors and omissions that may slip into the information displayed in these reader comments. Everyone who submits a comment should read, understand and agree to the Terms of Usage for this section. 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