Yes, we are "interested" in a home children apology

Earlier this week, federal Immigration Minister and pompous jackass Jason Kenney said there was no need for the federal government to apologize to the descendents of impoverished British orphans, who were shipped to Canada and subjected to widespread abuse. Kenney elaborated that the matter concerns "British policy" and there are no Canadians asking for an apology.

Wrong.

Home Children Canada wants the federal government to follow the lead of Australia and Britain, and issue an apology. Sidney Baker, a spokesperson for the organization, replied to Kenney's remarks:

I'm very disappointed. We've got four million Canadians who are descendants of the home children and I think they deserve an apology for what their parents went through.

Baker said he can't comprehend why the federal government refuses to apologize, noting that Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently apologized for residential school abuse that Native Canadians suffered.

The program, which guaranteed a better life, started in 1869 and ended in 1939, although in 1948 the final influx arrived in Canada. Approximately 150,000 orphaned or abandoned children were shipped from Britain to Canada, as well as other British colonies, without the knowledge and approval of their parents. A greater majority of them (over one hundred thousand) likely arrived in Canada. Many children began work as labourers, and were abused both mentally and physically. Studies demonstrate that more than two-thirds of the children sent to Canada were mistreated.

Canadians first gained exposure to the program in 1895 when a young British worker died at an Ontario farm, just over half a year after arriving. In the early 1920s many home children committed suicide, which eventually resulted in the government outlawing charities shipping children under fourteen into the country.

According to Kenney, his support for a private member's bill to have 2010 designated as "the year of the home child", Canada Post preparing a commemorative stamp, and federal museums planning exhibits is adequate. He affirmed that the home children were not being snubbed, and that apologies for earlier wrong-doings should be made sparingly. Sparingly? What? Is is really that hard to apologize for children who were taken against their parents' will, shipped to a foreign country, forced into hard labour and abused?

Kenney's justification was that the abuse of home children hasn't been "on the radar screen here", as opposed to Australia.

The reality is that here in Canada we are taking measures to recognize that sad period, but there is, I think, limited public interest in official government apologies for everything that's ever been unfortunate or (a) tragic event in our history. And we've laid out some pretty clear criteria for where such apologies would be appropriate and on a limited basis.

Unbelievable. Right Jason, the criteria is pretty clear and although it might have been tragic or unfortunate, it's really no biggie.

Australia apologized Monday for the role it played in the abuse of home children. The British government also announced that a formal apology will be issued in 2010. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said:

We are sorry. Sorry that as children you were taken from your families and placed in institutions where so often you were abused. Sorry for the physical suffering, the emotional starvation and the cold absence of love, of tenderness, of care. Sorry for the tragedy – the absolute tragedy – of childhoods lost.