FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

June 12, 2008

Nisga'a Nation Statement on
Residential School Apology 

NEW AIYANSH, B.C.: The Nisga'a Nation's Legislative
Assembly, known as Wilp Si'Ayuukhl Nisga'a, took time to witness
a historic moment in Canada's
history as Prime Minister Harper on behalf of the Government of Canada and all
Canadians, apologized for the reprehensible Indian Residential School Policy.

Mr. Kevin McKay,
Chairperson of the Nisga'a Lisims Government addressed the members of
Wilp Si'Ayuukhl Nisga'a following the apology by Prime Minister
Stephen Harper for Canada's
Indian Residential Schools Policy. "It is an understatement to say that this
apology is long overdue," stated Kevin McKay,
"Of particular importance to the Nisga'a Nation was the statement by Liberal
Party Leader, the Honourable Stéphane Dion, that this was a shared
responsibility of the various governments of Canada over 100 years of maintaining
this government policy which affected more than 150,000 aboriginal children." 

"The Nisga'a Nation is pleased with the light that
this apology has shed on this very dark chapter of Canadian history," Mr. McKay
stated, "With the apology of the Prime Minister, with the statements by each of
the leaders of the opposition parties and with the statements of the National
Aboriginal leaders, the apology we witnessed today has set in motion a window
of opportunity unprecedented in Canadian history to enable residential school
survivors and their families to confront and conquer the painful memories and
demons that continue to plague aboriginal people, communities and cultures."

The stories recounting the plight of those still suffering
and still in need of help will be heard as a result of today's events. Mr. Kevin
McKay stated, "We feel that the acceptability of the apology is very much a
personal decision of residential school survivors. The Nisga'a Nation
will consider the sincerity of the Prime Minister's apology on the basis of the
policies and actions of the government in the days and years to come. Only
history will determine the degree of its sincerity." 

Mr. McKay concluded, "The residential school policy is a
subset of a more comprehensive and equally reprehensible policy that is enshrined
in the Indian Act. If you look around, the Indian Act survives and thrives
still today. It is an ill-fated, colonial prescription and we are
still dealing with its after-effects. The Nisga'a Final Agreement,
signed on May 11, 2000 with
Canada and British
Columbia, is the Nisga'a Nation's prescription
to overcome these very dark policies and we are now calling on the Government
of Canada to end its ongoing breach of the Nisga'a Final Agreement as it
has failed to negotiate our fiscal arrangements since they expired in March
2006." The Nisga'a Nation is further calling on the government to honour its
agreements and implement Land Claim agreements in a timely, fair and equitable
manner as proposed by the Land Claims Agreement Coalition and affirmed by the recent
Report of the Senate Committee.

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For more information:

Les Clayton, Director of
Communications & Intergovernmental Affairs

Nisga'a Lisims Government

1-866-633-0888 or (250) 633-3000