‘Idea of Canada must be deconstructed and rebuilt’
The country’s identity needs to include First Nations and their history, RoseAnne Archibald says.
More than 1,100 unmarked graves of indigenous children have been found at former residential schools in Canada in recent months.
The compulsory boarding schools were part of a government policy of forced assimilation where more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were taken from their families and placed in state-run boarding schools during the 19th and 20th Centuries.
Children were forced to speak English or French and convert to Christianity.
The National Chief of Canada's Assembly of First Nations, RoseAnne Archibald, told 鶹ҳ Hardtalk that the “idea of Canada is built upon lies.”
“For many years the Canadian government knew about residential schools, they knew about the deaths that were happening there and they did not inform their own citizens,” she said.
“So the idea of Canada must be deconstructed and rebuilt in a way that is inclusive of the truth and inclusive of First Nations and our stories.”
In July Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the assimilation policy "incredibly harmful”.