aptnnews.ca | Oct 5, 2023
Scouts Canada has issued an apology for its role in the eradication of First Nation, Inuit and Metis people for more than a century.
“We are sincerely sorry for the historical harm we believe we have inflicted on the Indigenous children, families, communities and nations,” Scouts Canada CEO, Liam Burns announced to Indigenous representatives in Winnipeg.
Scouting was prominent in Canada’s residential and day school systems. It was the program of choice used alongside the church to strip Indigenous youth of their identities.
“It has been used as a way to tell young people with Indigenous backgrounds that they should be someone different, that their values should be something given to them, not from their ancestors or their people, but from an outside organization,” Burns said.
