The president of the University of British Columbia (UBC) delivered an apology on Monday for the university’s role in the residential school system.
“If you take pride in being associated with UBC, as I do, then together we must accept the responsibility to acknowledge our predecessors’ failure to stop the residential school system – an act that could have reduced, perhaps even prevented, the damage done to generations of Aboriginal children and communities,” UBC President Santa Ono said.
“While we cannot rewrite this history, we must not deny it either. It is our history to own and learn from.”
The apology was read at the official opening of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre, which will serve as a place for survivors, families and the community to access records from the school system and learn more about its history.
The university has made other efforts towards reconciliation with local First Nations, including a commemorative totem pole dedicated to the victims.
“The centre will give residential survivors an opportunity to tell their stories by their own choice.” Barney Williams, a residential school survivor and a member of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s Survivors Circle, said.