Premier Andrew Furey will deliver an apology to former students of the residential school system and family members at the Cartwright Recreation Centre Friday.The apology is being delivered in collaboration with the NunatuKavut Community Council , as committed in 2017. Joining the Premier for the event are the Honourable Lisa Dempster, Minister of Labrador Affairs and Minister Responsible for Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation, and Todd Russell, President of the NCC.
But Nunatsiavut President Johannes Lampe expressed his “utmost disappointment over” the decision. He said the apology is going to an “unrecognized Indigenous group” before any apology to Labrador Inuit residential school survivors and their families – despite concerns expressed to the provincial government.
While some students who attended residential schools were non-Indigenous , Labrador Inuit led the way in having an apology delivered in 2017 by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal government for Canada’s role in Labrador’s residential schools system.