Again, I'm not a lawyer and am not providing a legal opinion, but I would say that the settlement agreement and the subsidiary agreements speak for themselves as to the responsibility accepted by the various parties, and the processes that are outlined for addressing those responsibilities.
The apology has weight in terms of providing a moral recognition by the government of its actions. To a first nations person, in accordance with customary law of first nations, your word is your bond. That's a very important thing for the current representative of the Queen's side of the treaty negotiations to acknowledge: that the commitment to build a nation together in peace and harmony was unravelled shortly after the entering into treaties. The consequences of that are as they are laid out in the apology that was provided on June 11, 2008.
The manner of dealing with those acknowledgments, however, speaks for itself through the settlement agreements themselves; hence our recommendation that a person expert in the administration of the settlement and the claims, and the funding and payment of those claims, might wish to appear before the committee at your invitation.