Mary Simon, National President, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami:

Good afternoon, honourable senators, and thank you for your invitation to speak today.

It is an honour both as a Canadian and as a leader of Canada's Inuit to be in this chamber to mark and reflect upon the historic event that occurred one year ago: The Prime Minister's Statement of Apology to Former Students of Indian Residential Schools.

As I look around this room, I am comforted by seeing faces of senators who have worked with and for Aboriginal people in Canada for many years, promoting reforms inside the framework of democratic principles and human rights that have served our country for many years: Senator Watt from Nunavik, and Senator Adams from Nunavut. Senator Adams will retire from the Senate next week after 32 years serving Canadians. Congratulations, Senator Adams.

I also see senators who know and understand the extraordinary significance of July 11, 2008, to Canada's Aboriginal peoples. It was an apology that reached across generations to the living and the deceased, to the former students of residential schools, to their children and grandchildren who experienced the consequences of a government policy that forcibly removed children from their homes, isolated them from their families, our language and our culture, and sought to assimilate our people into the dominant culture.

As the Prime Minister stated, this policy "had a lasting and damaging impact on Aboriginal cultures" and it had "no place in our country."

That day, I spoke directly to our Prime Minister and told him that I had dreamed of this day when, on behalf of all Canadians, our government could reach inside the despair of so many of our people to say "we are sorry."

In homes across this great country, Inuit heard these remarkable words from our Prime Minister:

The burden of this experience has been on your shoulders for too long. . . . The burden is properly ours as a government and a country.

Those words, in all their significance, did not change anything that day. Rather, it created an opportunity for change and we must make the most of this opportunity.

The past forward lies in reconciliation. Reconciliation between Inuit, our government and our nation will have many threads and at different levels. As leaders, we must weave these threads together to create a journey of healing and transformative changes for Canada's Inuit.

In the months following the apology, I spoke about its significance at national and international events. I told audiences about the significant shift that the apology represented because for the first time in our history, a Prime Minister recognized that the policy of residential schools and assimilation was ". . . based on the assumption that Aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal. Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong."

If, then, the apology marked the end of a period of misguided policy where our language and cultural knowledge had been devalued, then it stands to reason that the apology must also mark the beginning of a period when we must collectively invest in restoring the legitimacy and validity of our language and cultural knowledge.

This is one reason why it is so important that Canada reconsider its position on the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Endorsing this UN declaration would be indicative of a country that has shifted its attitude on the validity of its Aboriginal cultures, which is what the Prime Minister's apology represented.

The true measure of the apology, therefore, will be the actions that follow this shift in attitude by our government. Reconciliation will follow a path of policy changes of substance, involving setting new goals and defining new decision-making processes that signify a high level of legitimacy for the Inuit language and culture.

Your decision last year, taken prior to the apology, to introduce Inuktitut as the first Aboriginal language to be used in the Senate chamber and two Senate committees raised Inuktitut to a new level of legitimacy in Canada. We must continue to build on decisions of this progressive nature.

Thank you, senators, for your leadership on the Inuktitut language, which lies at the core of who and what we are as Inuit. Your actions speak louder than words on this issue. Right after my speech, you will be dealing with a motion to approve the Official Languages Act for Nunavut. The Senate is demonstrating that sober second thought has the power to make history.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

Ms. Simon: I also want to take a moment to publicly thank Governor General Michaëlle Jean for her actions in support of our culture.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

Ms. Simon: In sharing seal meat with residents of Rankin Inlet at a community feast last week, she actively demonstrated support for our hunting traditions. It was a big morale boost for Inuit who need a champion for our way of life. Thank you, Your Excellency.

Honourable senators, your voices were heard again in the recently released report With Respect, Canada's North by the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources.

This report reaffirms what Inuit have been saying for many years. A key measure of progress toward our sovereignty goals will be allocating resources to strengthen Canada's sovereignty claims in the North and improving the social conditions for the people who live there.

Thank you for your leadership in promoting this shift in policy thinking around sovereignty. It is absolutely critical that the development of a comprehensive Arctic strategy by our government stem from the needs of the people living in the Arctic.

Canada's next phase of policy-making for the Arctic must pick up from the historical significance of the Prime Minister's apology — specifically, that the apology signifies a departure from the past and the beginning of a new era where Inuit will lead the process of reclaiming our education systems, restoring the health of our citizens and fostering a new wave of growth for our language.

Policies and resource allocations by our federal government must enable these transformative goals. Let me provide a few examples.

Our country has never set national goals for Inuit education and we have the lowest graduation rates in the country. Reconciliation must involve a sustained commitment to strengthen our Inuit education systems so that we graduate more of our children.

In the last 20 years, Inuit have witnessed the rising tide of mental health issues in our communities. Reconciliation must involve a sustained commitment to investing in a comprehensive mental health strategy developed by and for Inuit.

For many Inuit, losing their first language created a void in their lives. Reconciliation must involve a sincere commitment to replacing that void with a promise and a plan to support our efforts at reclaiming our language as the heart of our culture.

Our coastal communities and our livelihoods are threatened by climate change. Reconciliation must involve real action on Canada's contribution to curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

You have undoubtedly heard of the recent discussion around establishing a university in the Arctic. This is an idea of substance for the post-apology era because it would represent the emergence of a new level of legitimacy, validity and influence of Inuit knowledge and language. No single project could demonstrate our country's sincerity about the apology more than a commitment to establish a university in the Arctic, a university that would produce Inuit scholars for the challenges we face today in the Arctic.

Before I conclude my remarks, I must take a moment to raise an important issue on behalf of all Inuit, but specifically for the Inuit of Nunatsiavut in Labrador.

Last year's Statement of Apology contained a gap, resulting in an ongoing injustice. The injustice concerns Inuit students who attended day school in Nunatsiavut in Labrador. These victims have been left out of the Government of Canada's acceptance of responsibility for the abuse that was inflicted on Aboriginal students, and this injustice must be corrected.

Each generation must decide if it wants to settle for the world of their parents, or if they want to improve upon the past. In Canada, through no fault or intention of our parents, they were part of a generation of a national education policy that had catastrophic consequences on our language and culture and the mental health of our people.

It is time to honour our parents, elders and past generations by redressing the mistakes of the past. Through our collective leadership, we must move our country forward into a new era of transformative changes for today's generation of Inuit. The threads of reconciliation will be woven through the record of enabling laws, progressive policies and day-to-day decision making that draws on the spirit of the apology.

I am pleased to be a leader in the company of two strong Inuit women who have entered the national political arena in the past year. As important as speaking Inuktitut to you here today, I spoke Inuktitut for the first time to a minister of the Crown this year when I met formally, as ITK president, with the Minister of Health, Leona Aglukkaq.

I was just as pleased the day after Nunavut turned 10 years old to sign a National Inuit Education Accord with Minister Strahl, which I wish I had more time to talk about. It was in the presence of the new premier of Nunavut, Eva Arreak, and I think she is here today. I am not sure where she is sitting, but it was a pleasure to have her be part of that development.

The National Inuit Education Accord will develop a national strategy on Inuit education within a year. Before Minister Strahl and I signed the accord, the two territorial governments signed it, as well as the Nunatsiavut government, plus Newfoundland and Labrador, the presidents of each of the land claims organizations and school boards within the different regions. This is a very positive development.

As leaders, we must get up every day and put into practice a vision for Canada's indigenous peoples. Let us hope that the decisions we make in support of this vision are criticized as overreaching, so that history will some day record these decisions not as overreaching, but rather as overdue.

We would also like to see a report card issued by the Government of Canada. We would be pleased to help the government structure this report card on an annual basis.

Let us keep in mind why we are set to engage in what I called last year "our nation's heavy lifting," when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission begins its work.

It is for our children and our children's children. Once our communities are healed, our children will grow up in healthy communities and happy families. We owe that to our children. Thank you very much.

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