Father was academic, I am teacher, says Canada PM Trudeau on apologies

Trudeau has recently said his father and former Canadian Prime Minister, late Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was an academic when the matter comes to apologies.

"My father might have a different perspective on it than I do.," Trudeau said.

"He came at it as an academic, as a constitutionalist, I come at it as a teacher, as someone who’s worked a lot in communities" the PM added.

The present Prime Minister believes apologies are important for any community to move forward.

Also the PM considers apology as a way to state that such mistakes won't be repeated in future.

Trudeau on Friday apologised to hundreds of first nations' people who had undergone abuse in a boarding school system.

The indigenous people were forcefully placed into a system of boarding school but the system was full of abuses.

Trudeau apologised to the indigenous students who had to attend the residential schools in provinces like Newfoundland and Labrador.

"Today, we apologize to former students of Newfoundland and Labrador residential schools and to the families, loved ones, and communities for the painful & tragic legacy these schools left behind.." Trudeau said on Twitter.

Along with the apology, the PM acknowledged the many Innu, Inuit, and NunatuKavut children who were neglected and abused, and who suffered lasting damage to their culture and language because of the residential school system.

Trudeau said: "For every Innu, Inuit, and NunatuKavut child in Newfoundland and Labrador who suffered discrimination, mistreatment, abuse, and neglect in residential schools – we are sorry. While this long overdue apology will not undo the harm done, we offer it as a sign that we as a government and as a country accept responsibility for our failings."

"It is our shared hope that we can learn from this past and continue to advance our journey of reconciliation and healing. We have the power to be better and to do better.,” the PM added.

The Prime Minister even said the government needs to acknowledge the past where intergenerational trauma had affected the first nations people.

However, according to some media reports, the local leaders feel Trudeau's apology is just not enough.

Students, who were separated from their parents, had to endure emotional, physical and sexual abuses in the boarding schools.

(Reporting by Suman Das)

Image: facebook.com/pg/JustinPJTrudeau