CANADA
CBC News
Closing the social and economic gap is a linchpin in reconciliation between aboriginal people and the rest of Canada, AFN Grand Chief Perry Bellgarde said Monday on the eve of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission releasing its final report.
“I urge everybody across Canada to rid themselves of things like the misconceptions about indigenous peoples, the discriminatory, racist attitudes that may exist, to move them out so that new things may come in,” Bellgarde said at a news conference in Ottawa.
A march in Ottawa on Sunday drew thousands of aboriginal and non-aboriginal people, drawing attention to this week’s conclusion of the six-year-long Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which will release its final report and recommendations on Tuesday after hearing testimony from 7,000 former students of residential schools.
The march was “a very powerful testament about what we can do when we start working together to bring about change in this country,” Bellgarde said.
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