Tony wants truth commission to visit the Sault

NEWS RELEASE

TONY MARTIN, MP

************************* Martin in attendance as aboriginal, church leaders begin healing tour

OTTAWA – Aboriginal and church leaders gathered in Ottawa Monday to mark the beginning of a tour for the Indian Residential School Truth and Reconciliation Commission to help heal relations between aboriginal people and larger society.

“As a nation we lack a vision for our future that includes everybody and if we are going to be successful in forging that vision it has to start with resolving our broken relationship with our First Nations,” Sault MP Tony Martin said.

MPs recognized the leaders in the House of Commons Monday and then Martin attended a reception where he had the chance to speak with leaders about residential schools in his riding.

He hopes the commission will include Sault Ste. Marie in its tour.

“Recent statistics in the census show that the only real growth in population is in our Aboriginal community. So they are not only our past, they will be our future and as such deserve our attention as a priority. This Truth and Reconciliation commission is a good place to start.”

The ‘Remembering the Children’ tour will announce a community-based process of sharing and truth-telling.

Phil Fontaine, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, has said the commission offers the federal government an opportunity to do right by all its citizens.

The church leaders acknowledging their responsibility for residential schools said the commission is important for its own members too.

The residential schools removed aboriginal children from their homes denying the right to use their languages and in many cases leading to physical, mental and sexual abuse.

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