Mr. Speaker, I was honoured to be one of the MPs in attendance five years ago, when the residential school apology was made in this chamber. Every seat in the gallery was filled, and thousands more people watched this historic event on the front lawn of Parliament. Even more watched it in their homes and communities. It was a good day.
As the late Elijah Harper once said, the apology lifted people’s hearts and opened the doors to reconciliation. From the thousands of Canadians who have already attended events arranged by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, to the many young voices, some on the Hill today, who are part of the Our Dreams Matter Too campaign to bring equal funding to all schools in Canada, to the many workers participating in national Aboriginal History Month events, people want the apology to mean something tangible. They want it to bring a change in perspective and a new relationship between First Nations, Inuit and Metis and other peoples of Canada.
As Jack Layton said that day:
...reconciliation must be built through positive steps that show respect and restore trust. This apology must not be an end; it must be a beginning.
New Democrats want to build on those words.