New support for victims of
residential school abuse
THE group representing
Japanese Canadians displaced during the Second World War has thrown its support
behind the aboriginal victims of residential schools. At a meeting of an
aboriginal organization in
Miki told the Four Worlds
International Institute for Human and Community Development meeting that her
letter urges
Coderre
to give fair settlements to the
thousands of aboriginals who attended the schools for decades.
Miki wrote that her
association is calling for "a timely, compassionate and just resolution
and support for the survivors of experiences in the Indian Residential
Schools."
In an interview, Miki said
the issue is similar to the 22,000 Japanese Canadians who were stripped of
their rights and forcibly relocated during the Second World War. "Unlike
our issue, the residential school issue hasn't been resolved," she said.
The federal government funded more than 100 residential schools for aboriginal
children throughout the 1900s.
Many of the children
suffered sexual and physical abuse, and others said they also lost their
cultural teachings and aboriginal languages.
Vaughn Marshall, an
"
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca