Newfoundland and Labrador expected to apologize today for residential schools

The Newfoundland and Labrador government is expected to make an apology today to survivors of residential schools in southern Labrador.

The Newfoundland and Labrador government is expected to make an apology today to survivors of residential schools in southern Labrador.

Premier Andrew Furey is to make the apology in the community of Cartwright, in collaboration with the NunatuKavut Community Council, which says it represents 6,000 Inuit in south and central Labrador.

The move has angered the Inuit Nunatsiavut government, in northern Labrador, and the Innu Nation, both of which don't recognize the NunatuKavut council's claims.

Furey told reporters Thursday he is working with all Indigenous groups in the province to deliver them an apology, adding that he is apologizing to NunatuKavut members first because of scheduling issues.

The province first promised an apology in 2017, but plans to deliver one in 2020 were thwarted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew to Labrador in 2017 to apologize for Canada's role in residential schools in the province, after former prime minister Stephen Harper omitted the region from his apology in 2008.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 29, 2023.