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By Lloyd Mackey
 A TIME for apologies, for questions and for resurrecting motions.
It does not take the wisdom of Solomon, as expressed in Ecclesiastes 3, to get some sense that timing is important.
Last week, I suggested that I expected to be listening to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's apologies on my car radio. As it happened, my timing worked out so as to have resulted in pulling into World Vision Canada's parking lot in Mississauga at shortly before 3 p.m., Wednesday, June 11.
When I asked the nice lady at reception if any television sets might be available to watch the apology, she pointed overhead. And there was a screen showing the prime minister descending the staircase into the Commons. Walking beside him was First Nations Assembly Chief Phil Fontaine, in full head dress.
So, I got to observe the visuals as well, and was grateful that a number of busy WVC people were seeing to it that facilities were available to both visitors and employees, to view the historic event.
The auditorium at the humanitarian organization's Canadian headquarters was the site, a few hours later, for The Word Guild (TWG) awards gala which, each year, prefaces Write! Canada, TWG's Christian writers' conference. The conference started the following afternoon at the Guelph Bible Conference Centre, a couple of dozen kilometres east.
* * *
Away from The Hill and surrounded by writers who likely take less of an interest in politics than do I, the preponderance of interest was in the apology, with hardly any awareness of the offsetting embarrassment created by Ottawa-area Conservative MP Pierre Pollivere.
Young Pollivere, of course, is the fellow who, in a local radio conversation just hours before the apology, raised questions about the billions spent in supporting aboriginal programs.
There was much outcry about his comments, although some letter-writers to the Ottawa Citizen wondered if his undoing was in the timing, rather than in the validity of his statements.
In Guelph, among the writers, almost all the comment was about the apology itself -- as well as the class with which Opposition Leader Stephane Dion made clear that the Liberals had been in power most of the time during the existence of the residential schools. That was as it should be. If the prime minister had talked in that fashion, singling out the Liberals for attention, he would have been roundly criticized and rightly so.
And if Dion had failed to specify the Liberal responsibility, his part of the apology would have been incomplete.
* * *
As to Pollivere's "timing", it was a most dramatic example of something happening all the time (pun intended) in the world of politics.
There is a time to speak and a time to keep silence, as the aforementioned Ecclesiastes points out. And then, there is a time for truth and reconciliation, blended into one significant roll.
* * *
And there is a time, as well, to return to issues that were visited years ago and abandoned.
That is something presently engaging the attention of the MP who has employed my dear spouse for the past ten years.
When he first entered the house in 1997, Saskatoon-area MP Maurice Vellacott pressed for conscience legislation. Such a law would protect health care workers from being forced to participate in abortion procedures and other practices that their beliefs, or their consciences, would preclude.
Later, before he retired, BC Liberal senator Ray Perrault -- like Vellacott, a serious Christian believer -- advocated a similar conscience motion in the upper house.
Neither of their actions succeeded. Now Vellacott is introducing a similar motion again. As well, he is raising support among MPs for acceptance of the concept of "equal parenting". Such a motion would encourage divorced or separated parents to agree to equally sharing the parenting of their children. Again, a similar motion had been encouraged several years ago in the senate, by Anne Cools, who has served as both a Liberal and Conservative in that chamber, and is presently an independent.
Sometimes the recognition of the importance of timing helps a concept or even a policy to be accepted, when before it was ignored or even discouraged.
For the residential school question, it took a long time.
Better late than never.
But, hopefully, better early than late, as politicians fine-tune their sense of right and wrong.
* * *
Lloyd Mackey is a member of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa and author of Stephen Harper: The Case for Collaborative Governance (ECW Press, 2006). He can be reached at lmackey@canadianchristianity.com.
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Full text: 'We are sorry for failing them so profoundly'
What follows is the transcript of a speech delivered by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the House of Commons on Wednesday, in which he declared "I stand before you, in this chamber so central to our life as a country, to apologize to aboriginal peoples for Canada's role in the Indian residential schools system"
National Post, June 12
'New dawn' in race relations
Amid tears and solemn silence, burning sage and banging drums, aboriginal leaders hailed Prime Minister Stephen Harper's apology for the residential school system yesterday as a turning point in the history of relations between natives and other Canadians.
Ottawa Citizen, June 12
A national call for healing
Harper takes step to atone for a 'sad chapter in our history'
Vancouver Sun, June 12
Harper 'sorry' for native residential schools
Tears fall in hushed House of Commons as Prime Minister apologizes on behalf of nation for ordeal
Toronto Star, June 12
We are sorry
Prime Minister Stephen Harper had yet to utter a single word of Canada's apology to former Indian residential schools students when the cheering began. Native drumming and shouts turned into loud, simultaneous clapping. Raw emotion bursting for an apology decades overdue. There were many smiles. For the sexual and physical abuse that occurred at the schools, Canada apologized. For the efforts to wipe out aboriginal languages and culture in the name of assimilation, Mr. Harper expressed remorse. But aboriginal eyes in the now quiet House of Commons room began to tear when the Prime Minister acknowledged the ongoing, generational impacts of residential schools.
Globe and Mail, June 12
On the Hill lawn: applause and tears
There was a sombre, reflective mood across Ottawa yesterday as the Prime Minister and opposition leaders apologized to survivors of the residential school system. An hour before the historic moment, Phil Fontaine, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, appeared in the foyer of the House of Commons to have his headdress and regalia smudged by an elder -- a gesture to honour native tradition -- and other members of the aboriginal community gathered outside the chamber to put on their traditional dress and hug one another.
National Post, June 12
Survivors of abuse at B.C. school fight back tears
Ktunaxa Nation members gather to watch historic event
Vancouver Sun, June 12
Speech 'so down to earth and so beautiful'
Survivors of Canada's residential school system sat scattered between members of the public in a large ballroom inside Parliament Hill's West Block, quietly taking in the words of Prime Minister Stephen Harper as he apologized for the decades of abuse students endured at the schools.
CanWest News Service, June 12
A 'bittersweet' moment for first nations people
Apology gets mixed response from native people gathered in North Van
Vancouver Sun, June 12
Apology 'is not going to fix what happened'
'We were just taken. We all had to go,' says one who left home at age 5
Toronto Star, June 12
Majority of speech written by Harper
Prime Minister Stephen Harper personally wrote most of the apology he delivered in the House of Commons yesterday, after reworking drafts sent to him by bureaucrats and his speech writers, according to a senior government source. He completely overhauled the speech after meeting with four residential school survivors at his office last week and listening to their moving stories.
National Post, June 12
Experts analyze the apology
As Prime Minister Stephen Harper made his historic apology to the former students of the residential school system, ears were trained to hear the subtext behind the carefully written speech. Matthew Coutts of the National Post asked experts to offer their opinions on what Mr. Harper said and didn't say. The panel included: Allan Bonner, of Allan Bonner Communications Management Inc., an image and crisis management consultant who has counselled several premiers and Cabinet ministers; Michael Dorland, a professor of journalism and communications at Carleton University; and, Jeff Ansell, of Jeff Ansell and Associates Inc. Communications Consultants, a former journalist and an associate of the MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program "Dealing with an Angry Public."
National Post, June 12
Opportunists seek share of abuse victims' money
B.C. health authorities are preparing intervention plans because they fear residential school abuse victims may be exploited again after they receive compensation cheques, this time by younger family members or friends. The exploitation may come in many forms as opportunists seek a share of the victims' money, which may involve psychological or even physical abuse to get their way, say experts.
Vancouver Sun, June 12
School children learn significance of apology
The Lynnmour elementary gymnasium in North Vancouver was virtually silent during Prime Minister Stephen Harper's residential school apology. "The kids are being so quiet," Scott Sutherland, the acting principal, said with a grin.
Vancouver Sun, June 12
Natives' hurt speaks volumes to their children
Students unable to watch landmark apology because their school is short of TVs find other ways to celebrate their heritage
Globe and Mail, June 12
Tory MP apologizes for 'hurtful' remarks
The Conservative MP who said native people need to learn the value of hard work more than they need residential schools compensation has apologized. Pierre Poilievre rose in the House of Commons on Thursday to say his comments were hurtful and wrong.
Globe and Mail, June 12
Canada's 'sad chapter'
It takes a tragedy to unite the House; Free of divisive politics, Harper tries sincerity
Don Martin, National Post, June 12
A good day for Canada and Harper
Stephen Harper confounds his critics still. Many expected the Prime Minister would approach the apology over the residential schools program with the enthusiasm of the chairman of the board going through the motions at an annual general meeting. Instead, we're told he met with survivors of the program and wrote much of his text himself. Those of a cynical disposition may suggest the Prime Minister moved himself to tears. We'd prefer to think that when Mr. Harper's voice cracked and wavered, it was because of genuine emotion. He certainly appeared to be speaking from the heart.
John Ivison, National Post, June 12
Chief Phil Fontaine responds to the Prime Minister
Prime Minister, Chief Justice, members of the House, elders, survivors, Canadians, for our parents, our grandparents, great grandparents, indeed for all of the generations which have preceded us, this day testifies to nothing less than the achievement of the impossible.
Chief Phil Fontaine, CanWest News Service, June 12
'I accept the Prime Minister's apology'
Finally, Canada admits this shameful history. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister said sorry for the devastation caused to aboriginal children and families. He also asked for forgiveness. That message was no small mouthful. It took personal courage and political will to utter it. I know, because in 2002, as premier of the Northwest Territories, I offered my own apology to our residential school survivors.
Stephen Kakfwi, Globe and Mail, June 12
Mounting sense of urgency was apology's catalyst
Pleas by two cabinet ministers, a senator and NDP Leader persuaded Harper that statement should precede work of commission
Globe and Mail, June 13
Area Tory's 'racist' remarks cloud apology
Poilievre says he regrets questioning merits of settlement with aboriginals
Ottawa Citizen, June 13
MP retracts radio remarks
A chastened Conservative MP stood in the House of Commons yesterday to fully retract remarks he made Wednesday that were shocking both for their content and timing. Pierre Poilievre had provoked outrage with comments on an Ottawa radio show, made just hours before Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered a moving apology for generations of racist policy in residential schools.
Canadian Press, June 13
A wicked idea gone wrong
The residential school program was part of a concerted effort to destroy a people
John Moore, National Post, June 13
The puzzling fashions of penitence
I'll say this for Stephen Harper: Canada's Prime Minister didn't apologize this week to Canada's aboriginal people in a moral vacuum. Ahistoric apologies have been all the rage in the last twenty years.
George Jonas, National Post, June 14
Actions speak much louder than words
Aboriginal women need to be empowered for first nations to break the cycle of poverty and despair
Daphne Bramham, The Vancouver Sun, June 14
Many paths to healing
Victims of abuse at B.C. residential schools rely on a variety of techniques to rid themselves of the pain
Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun, June 14
Six reasons why Jonathan Kay shouldn't be writing columns on Indian Residential Schools
Not knowing Mr. Kay, nor being familiar with any of his writing, I can only presume his intentions in writing about Prime Minister Harper's forthcoming apology were as honorable as my own are in responding to both. However well-intentioned, though, his piece represents precisely the sort of misconception and lack of understanding that the apology itself strives to correct.
Ian Nagy, Full Comment, National Post, June 15
When saying sorry is saying nothing at all
Listening to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's apology last week, my thoughts kept wandering to Premier Gordon Campbell's "new relationship" with aboriginal peoples. We've not heard much lately from him on that subject, though he seemed for a time to be on a personal mission. And we're still left to wonder why - on an issue included in the Liberals' 2005 election platform - Mr. Campbell allowed his caucus a free vote when the Tsawwassen treaty came before the legislature.
Norman Spector, Globe and Mail, June 16
June 19/2008
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