Harper's Residential Schools Apology Was "Attempt To Kill The Story": Ex-PMO Speechwriter

    Paul Bunner worked in the PMO during the historic 2008 apology.

    Reporting by Jorge Barrera, APTN National News

    Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s 2008 apology to Indian residential school survivors was a “strategic attempt to kill the story,” according to a former speechwriter in the Prime Minister’s Office at the time.

    The best that can be said of Harper's apology is that it was a strategic attempt to kill the story and move on to a better relationship between Natives and Non-Natives. Unfortunately, it only appears to have deepened the conviction that Church and State conspired not only to "kill the Indian in the child," but also to physically exterminate the whole race. The Aboriginal grievance and entitlement narrative continues to gather momentum.

    Bunner stood by his writing in an interview with APTN National News Thursday. He said they did not reflect the views of the PMO at the time of the apology.

    “I may have seen a draft, I may have commented on it,” said Bunner. “None of my ideas wound up in the final version.”

    This article was republished with permission from APTN.