The seven year switch: Harper misses chance to back up his apology
CTV News | Top Stories - Breaking News - Top News Headlines
Seven years ago today, Stephen Harper had his finest moment in aboriginal relations.
The Prime Minister stood in the House of Commons and apologized for the residential school tragedy. He said it was sincere. He said it was profound. He vowed that all of Canada would share the burden of aboriginal reconciliation in the future.
Today, there are legitimate grounds to wonder if it was all just an act.
By what could’ve been a beautiful coincidence, the Prime Minister had an audience with Pope Francis Thursday morning.
The coincidence is that just last week, the reconciliation commission which Harper created, recommended the Pope be asked to apologize this year for the Catholic church’s shameful role in a school system which was fronting a cultural genocide.
Opportunity beckoned. A Pope of the people, clearly possessing the compassion and capacity to deliver a heartfelt apology, probably needed only to be asked.
PM Harper meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican
But in what church officials confide was a short and tense meeting, Harper merely referred to a letter from his minister which doesn’t mention the apology and suggested His Holiness come to Canada for our 150th birthday bash two years hence.
But still, it was a golden opportunity wasted.
The seven year switch: Harper misses chance to back up his apology