(Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, sitting on the right, will make an announcement regarding the TRC Monday morning.)
APTN National News
TORONTO — Residential school survivor Andrew Wesley will join Indigenous leaders from the Assembly of First Nation, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Metis Federal of Ontario along the Native Women’s Association of Canada and the Ontario Friendship Centres for an announcement from the province’s premier Monday.
It’s expected that Kathleen Wynne will stand in the legislature at 9am ET and apologize for Ontario’s role in the residential school era that saw Indigenous children taken from their families and sent to government run schools.
The province joins Alberta and Manitoba who apologized for not doing more to protect children. Canada announced an official apology in 2008.
Wynne could also announce a shift in the province’s education curriculum.
The announcement comes on the heels of an unprecedented injection of $222 million over three years for Indigenous health.
Wynne’s statement in the legislature will be followed by a news conference by a delegation from Grassy Narrows First Nation in Northern Ontario.
For decades the community has been trying to get a commitment from the Ontario government to clean up the land around a former pulp mill that spilled mercury into the local environment.
Scientists studying people in the community say it is causing a number of health problems associated with mercury poisoning.
Wynne said last year that more study is needed before the mercury contamination can be cleaned up.
Joining Indigenous leaders in the legislature will be Patrick Brown, leader of the province’s Conservative party and Andrea Horwath, leader of the provincial NDP.
