Canada Apologises

So, Canada apologises for forcibly separating hundreds of thousands of indigenous children from their families and sending them to abusive boarding schools (see also). About time, I say. It's about time that the state recognises historical human rights abuses for what they are. Yet I'm still left with a sour taste in my mouth. It strikes me as too little, too late. An apology is a great step forward, but it's just words. "Let deeds, not words, be your adorning," wrote Baha'u'llah (Hidden Words #5 from the Persian). So where are the compensation payments to the affected families? How is the Canadian state today trying to tackle institutional racism? What is being done to address the segregation and wealth gap between whites and natives? Where, in short, is the justice?

Events like this remind me of Australia's apology over a similar policy towards the indigenous people there (see also), and Norway's apology for their sterilisation of their Roma (Gypsy) population, which was ongoing from 1934 to 1977 (sorry, no links). No reparations were paid in these cases either.

And as far as I know, there has never been any apology for Russia's long-running abuse of indigenous Siberian peoples, which dates as far back as the 17th Century and as recently as the Soviet Era. The world is a tough place.