Royal Canadian Tour continues, Indigenous groups await formal monarchy apology

As royals Prince Charles and Camilla Duchess of Cornwall continue their Canada-wide tour today, Indigenous groups are still waiting for a formal apology from the monarchy for its role in residential schools.

Local royal historians say the Trudeau government may be playing a part in blocking meaningful change.

Prince Charles acknowledged yesterday that Canada has a troubled past regarding Indigenous people. “We must find new ways to come to terms with the darker and more difficult aspects of the past, acknowledging, reconciling, and striving to do better.”

Stanley Henry, a professor at Brock University and a member of Six Nations of the Grand River doesn’t regard that statement as an apology for the monarchy’s role in residential schools.

“This is not an apology from Prince Charles himself in visiting survivors of residential schools, but more about his personal journey or personal learning to come to terms with this dark history in Canada,” Henry said.

On their third and final day in Canada, Charles and Camilla will meet with Indigenous groups in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories tomorrow.

Crown historian Nathan Tidridge said it’s up to the federal government to set the royal schedule. “The itinerary, the lengths, the people that he is he comes in contact with, they are vetted by the government of Canada,” Tidridge said.

Tidridge says the quick visit between Indigenous leaders and the monarchy may have been planned that way.

“It does not allow for that meaningful connection that needs to be made between the future King and treaty partners, especially treaty partners in a relationship that has been severely eroded. The primary perpetrator in that is that the government of Canada, since its creation it really has taken over that relationship,” Tidridge said.

Henry said, “this is pretty much the behavior we see with the government itself. If you go far back as 2008, we have the national apology by prime minister Stephen Harper and then a few months later on an international stage, say there’s no history of colonialism within here in Canada.”

The National Métis Council will be meeting with Prince Charles and Camilla Duchess of Cornwall where they will be asking for a formal apology from the Queen, who is the head of the Anglican Church which funded numerous residential schools.