Hardy proposes Yukon apology to First Nations people

Now that Ottawa has apologized to Canada's aboriginal people for the residential school system, the Yukon's NDP leader says it's time for the Yukon government to apologize to First Nations in the territory.

Todd Hardy said all Canadians share the shame for the legacy of residential schools, which Prime Minister Stephen Harper described as "a sad chapter in our history" during his official apology to former students on Wednesday.

Hardy, whose mother worked at Yukon Hall in Whitehorse when it housed residential school students many years ago, said he does not want the apologies to end in Ottawa.

"I would be really shocked and ashamed if we feel that an apology is all that's necessary, and that this is going to abolish any responsibility to what has happened in the past," Hardy said Wednesday while watching the apology at the former Yukon Hall building, which now houses the Council of Yukon First Nations offices.

"I'm hoping that maybe this fall, we could build on this and move forward from a territorial perspective and make a very formal apology in the legislative assembly," he said.

Hardy said he issued an apology to former residential school students during the spring session of the legislature, and he is willing to do it again in the fall.

Liberal Opposition leader Arthur Mitchell said the federal government's apology should be seen as a turning point in the relationship between First Nations and other Canadians.

"I hope that we can move forward together as people who have different experiences and have different backgrounds but share a common love for the place where we live," Mitchell said.

Yukon Party Premier Dennis Fentie, who also watched the apology Wednesday, said he also hopes it will help all Yukoners come together.