Canadian apology for residential schools

Last week, the Canadian Prime Minister Harper formally apologized to all former students of the Indian residential schools. As is well known, many First Nation children have suffered in those schools, as they have been abused many times, and their language and culture have been taken from them. As Harper put it in his apology:

Two primary objectives of the residential schools system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture. These objectives were based on the assumption aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal. Indeed, some sought, as it was infamously said, "to kill the Indian in the child."

When I heard stories which moved me deeply on one occasion, I was told, that I had not heard the worst things.
Those residential schools have been a cause of severe suffering for indigenous peoples in many countries: Canada as well as the US, Scandinavia, Australia. They have been an instrument in the hands of the colonizing power. Unfortunately, churches have been deeply involved as well in those schools. We can only say today that those schools were far from Christian institutions in many cases in spite of biblical education and morning prayers. The mere foundational thoughts of the system do seem to contradict everything Jesus tought.
This formal apology seems to be an inportant step in the healing process.
See http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/06/11/pm-statement.html
and http://www.canada.com/globaltv/national/story.html?id=18133d91-b8aa-4fbe-956e-20298d79c1d5