$2 A Head

[CHIMO]

Canada won't apologize to British home children

Elsie Hathaway is glad that Britain will apologize for sending her and other poor children to former colonies, including Canada, to work as servants in homes and institutions where many became victims of abuse.

Now Ms. Hathaway, 93, of Plaster Rock, N.B., would like to hear a few remorseful words from her own Canadian government.

"There's a lot of things that they should have done that they didn't do," she said yesterday in a telephone interview. "They sent us over here thinking we were going to be used good when we weren't."

The British government said yesterday that Prime Minister Gordon Brown would apologize for the child migrant programs that, for centuries, sent poor boys and girls as young as 3 to Australia, Canada and other countries. Many of the estimated 150,000 young émigrés ended up being physically and sexually abused.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-wont-apologize-to-british-home-children/article1364535/

HOME CHILDREN APOLOGY

Under the program, more than one-hundred thousand children were sent to Canada between 1869 and 1948. Known as "home children," they were bought by the Canadian government for two dollars, and many were forced into labour.

Among these children was Elsie Hathaway. We reached the ninety-three-year-old at her home in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick.
http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/latestshow.html
http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/asithappens/20091116-aih-2.wmv

Canadians not interested in 'home children' apology: Minister
OTTAWA–There's no need for Canada to apologize for abuse and exploitation suffered by thousands of poor children shipped here from Britain starting in the 19th century, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Monday.

Australia apologized Monday for its part in the mistreatment of the so-called home children, and the British government has announced it will issue a formal apology next year.

Kenney said he supports a private member's motion to declare 2010 the year of the home child, in remembrance of the "sad period" in Canadian history. Canada Post is planning a commemorative stamp and a number of federal museums have launched exhibits about the tragedy.

But he said that should be sufficient.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/726481--canadians-not-interested-in-home-children-apology-minister?bn=1

Opposition parties. Here is the opportunity to drive a stake into the Conservatives. Harper is away and no one can make a decision.
Get with it.

[fudge stripe cookays]

1. Disgusting.

An easy gesture, requiring very little, simply to comfort these people in their old age, and Canada won't do it?

This should be a spike in the coffin of conservatives, like you said.

As an American, I was completely unfamiliar with the story of the Home Children until we were up here visiting several years ago, and I believe there was a special on one of the networks about it. I was horrified. We Western cultures love patting ourselves on the back for our humanity, but the fact that this was allowed to happen is utterly shameful.