Apologies to Indigenous peoples

During the era of colonization, European empires colonized territories inhabited by Indigenous peoples and the colonies created new countries that would contain Indigenous peoples within their new political borders.{{refn|{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Adam |title=Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-93797-2 |pages=208, 230, 791–793}}{{Cite web |title=Indian Tribes and Resources for Native Americans |url=https://www.usa.gov/tribes |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330113129/https://www.usa.gov/tribes |archive-date=30 March 2023 |access-date=2023-03-29 |website=United States Government |language=en |quote=The U.S. government officially recognizes 574 Indian tribes in the contiguous 48 states and Alaska.}}{{Cite book |last1=Totten |first1=Samuel |title=Genocide of Indigenous Peoples: A Critical Bibliographic Review |last2=Hitchcock |first2=Robert K. |publisher=Transaction Publishers |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-4128-4455-0 |pages=2 |language=en |quote=In Asia, for example, only one country, the Philippines, has officially adopted the term "Indigenous peoples," and established a law specifically to protect Indigenous peoples' rights. Only two countries in Africa, Burundi and Cameroon, have statements about the rights of Indigenous peoples in their constitutions.}}{{Cite book |last1=Sengar |first1=Bina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VpyyEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22descended+from+groups+present+in+the+area+before+modern+states+were+created+and+current+borders+defined%22&pg=PA318 |title=Indigenous Societies in the Post-colonial World: Responses and Resilience Through Global Perspectives |last2=Adjoumani |first2=A. Mia Elise |date=2023-03-07 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-981-19-8722-9 |pages=318 |language=en |quote=Indigenous populations are communities that live within, or are attached to, geographically distinct traditional habitats or ancestral territories, and who identify themselves as being part of a distinct cultural group, descended from groups present in the area before modern states were created and current borders defined. They generally maintain cultural and social identities, and social, economic, cultural and political institutions, separate from the mainstream or dominant society or culture. |access-date=12 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220103326/https://books.google.com/books?id=VpyyEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22descended+from+groups+present+in+the+area+before+modern+states+were+created+and+current+borders+defined%22&pg=PA318 |archive-date=20 December 2023 |url-status=live}}}} In such processes, there were a series of atrocious crimes against Indigenous populations. Given that the dominant group has held political and economic power, these facts had not been officially investigated and recognized.{{refn|{{Cite journal |last=Englert |first=Sai |date=November 2020 |title=Settlers, Workers, and the Logic of Accumulation by Dispossession |journal=Antipode |volume=52 |issue=6 |pages=1647–1666 |bibcode=2020Antip..52.1647E |doi=10.1111/anti.12659 |s2cid=225643194 |doi-access=free|hdl=1887/3220822 |hdl-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last=Adhikari |first=Mohamed |date=2017-01-02 |title=Europe's First Settler Colonial Incursion into Africa: The Genocide of Aboriginal Canary Islanders |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17532523.2017.1336863 |journal=African Historical Review |language=en |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=1–26 |doi=10.1080/17532523.2017.1336863 |s2cid=165086773 |issn=1753-2523|url-access=subscription }}{{cite book |last=Adhikari |first=Mohamed |title=Destroying to Replace: Settler Genocides of Indigenous Peoples |date=2022 |publisher=Hackett Publishing Company |isbn=978-1-64792-054-8 |location=Indianapolis |pages=1–32}}}}{{Cite book |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv11sn770 |title=Colonial Genocide in Indigenous North America |date=2014 |publisher=Duke University Press |jstor=j.ctv11sn770 |isbn=978-0-8223-5763-6 |editor-last=Woolford |editor-first=Andrew |quote="From Lemarchand's volume, it is clear that what is remembered and what is not remembered is a political choice, producing a dominant narrative that reflects the victor's version of history while silencing dissenting voices. Building on a critical genocide studies approach, this volume seeks to contribute to this conversation by critically examining cases of genocide that have been "hidden" politically, socially, culturally, or historically in accordance with broader systems of political and social power". (p2) ...the U.S. government, for most of its existence, stated openly and frequently that its policy was to destroy Native American ways of life through forced integration, forced removal, and death. An 1881 report of the U.S. commissioner of Indian Affairs on the "Indian question" is indicative of the decades- long policy: "There is no one who has been a close observer of Indian history and the effect of contact of Indians with civilization who is not well satisfied that one of two things must eventually take place, to wit, either civilization or extermination of the Indian. Savage and civilized life cannot live and prosper on the same ground. One of the two must die." (p3) "As such it is important for the peoples of the United States and Canada to recognize their shared legacies of genocide, which have too often been hidden, ignored, forgotten, or outright denied." (p3) "After all, much of North America was swindled from Indigenous peoples through the mythical but still powerful Doctrine of Discovery, the perceived right of conquest, and deceitful treaties. Restitution for colonial genocide would thus entail returning stolen territories". (p9) "Thankfully a new generation of genocide scholarship is moving beyond these timeworn and irreconcilable divisions." (p11)"Variations of the Modoc ordeal occurred elsewhere during the conquest and colonization of Africa, Asia, Australia, and North and South America. Indigenous civilizations repeatedly resisted invaders seeking to physically annihilate them in whole or in part. Many of these catastrophes are known as wars. Yet by carefully examining the intentions and actions of colonizers and their advocates it is possible to reinterpret some of these cataclysms as both genocides and wars of resistance. The Modoc case is one of them" (p120). "Memory, remembering, forgetting, and denial are inseparable and critical junctures in the study and examination of genocide. Absence or suppression of memories is not merely a lack of acknowledgment of individual or collective experiences but can also be considered denial of a genocidal crime (p150). Erasure of historical memory and modification of historical narrative influence the perception of genocide. If it is possible to avoid conceptually blocking colonial genocides for a moment, we can consider denial in a colonial context. Perpetrators initiate and perpetuate denial" (p160). |access-date=24 December 2023 |editor-last2=Benvenuto |editor-first2=Jeff |editor-last3=Hinton |editor-first3=Alexander Laban |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317131749/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv11sn770 |archive-date=17 March 2023 |url-status=live |last1=Fontaine |first1=Theodore |doi=10.2307/j.ctv11sn770 }}

During colonialism, many Western officials have expressed concerns, enacted laws to protect Indigenous peoples, and have punished a few colonial agents for some of their colonial atrocities.{{Cite book |last=Nettelbeck |first=Amanda |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XW2MDwAAQBAJ |title=Indigenous Rights and Colonial Subjecthood: Protection and Reform in the Nineteenth-Century British Empire |date=2019-03-28 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-47175-6 |pages=3, 195–196 |language=en}} Widely known examples are the Laws of Burgos and the New Laws in the Spanish Empire, which were poorly implemented.{{Cite journal |last=Sánchez-Arcilla Bernal |first=José |date=2021-09-17 |title=Las Leyes de Burgos de 1512: una falacia de los Derechos Humanos. Revisión historiográfica |url=https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CUHD/article/view/77969 |journal=Cuadernos de Historia del Derecho |volume=28 |pages=41–90 |doi=10.5209/cuhd.77969 |issn=1988-2521 |s2cid=240759142 |quote=Imposition of a new religion, uprooting from their lands and loss of ownership thereof, restriction of freedom of movement, acculturation... The 'Burgos Laws': a complete fallacy of human rights...|doi-access=free }} On occasion, some Indigenous government agencies committed atrocities, as is the case of the Indian Protection Service in Brazil as described in the Figueiredo Report,{{Cite news |date=1968-03-24 |title=Arsen und Zuckerstückchen |language=de |work=Der Spiegel |url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/arsen-und-zuckerstueckchen-a-23fa92a8-0002-0001-0000-000046093905 |access-date=2023-12-09 |issn=2195-1349}}{{Cite news |last1=Watts |first1=Jonathan |last2=Rocha |first2=Jan |date=2013-05-29 |title=Brazil's 'lost report' into genocide surfaces after 40 years |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/29/brazil-figueiredo-genocide-report |access-date=2023-12-09 |issn=0261-3077}} or the Office of Indigenous Affairs in the United States, who acknowledged its systemic shortcomings.{{Cite journal |last=Buck |first=Christopher |date=2006 |title="Never Again": Kevin Gover's Apology for the Bureau of Indian Affairs |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4140301 |journal=Wíčazo Ša Review |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=97–126 |doi=10.1353/wic.2006.0002 |issn=0749-6427 |jstor=4140301 |s2cid=159489841|url-access=subscription }}

Indigenous groups have publicly requested apologies from a number of states and Christian churches for their historical or contemporary role in atrocities committed against Indigenous peoples.{{Cite web |last=Zaru |first=Deena |title=Pope Francis apologizes to Indigenous community in Canada over church's role in boarding school abuse |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/pope-francis-deliver-long-awaited-apology-indigenous-community/story?id=87358227 |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=ABC News |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Cineas |first=Fabiola |date=17 January 2023 |title=New Zealand's Māori fought for reparations — and won |url=https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23518642/new-zealand-reparations-maori-settlements |access-date=2023-03-28 |website=Vox |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=MC |first=Ali |title=Indigenous leaders demand apology, reparations from King Charles |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/5/indigenous-leaders-demand-apology-reparations-from-king-charles |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}} No country has ever voluntarily acknowledged committing genocide.{{Cite journal |last1=Leach |first1=Colin Wayne |last2=Zeineddine |first2=Fouad Bou |last3=Čehajić - Clancy |first3=Sabina |date=March 2013 |title=Moral Immemorial: The Rarity of Self-Criticism for Previous Generations' Genocide or Mass Violence |journal=Journal of Social Issues |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=34–53 |doi=10.1111/josi.12002 |quote= |doi-access=free}}

In 2023 Indigenous leaders from Antigua and Barbuda, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Australia, the Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines issued an open letter. The signed letter requests King Charles III to acknowledge at his coronation the "horrific impacts" of colonization.{{Cite web |title=Māori Party joins call for King Charles to own up to 'horrific impacts' of colonisation at coronation |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/maori-party-want-king-charles-iii-to-own-up-to-horrific-impacts-of-colonisation-genocide-and-enslaving-indigenous-peoples/35ARDFFIRBAS3GBUJ7LJL3ZCKQ/ |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=NZ Herald |language=en-NZ}}{{Cite news |last=Butler |first=Josh |date=2023-05-03 |title=Commonwealth Indigenous leaders demand apology from the king for effects of colonisation |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/may/04/commonwealth-indigenous-leaders-demand-apology-from-the-king-for-effects-of-colonisation |access-date=2023-05-05 |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite web |date=2023-05-04 |title=Commonwealth representatives ask for reparations and apology ahead of coronation |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/royal-family/king-charles-coronation-commonwealth-reparations-b2332179.html |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=The Independent |language=en}}

In recent decades governments have acknowledged past atrocities or apologized for the policies of previous governments.{{Cite journal |last1=Blatz |first1=Craig W. |last2=Schumann |first2=Karina |last3=Ross |first3=Michael |date=2009 |title=Government Apologies for Historical Injustices |journal=Political Psychology |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=219–241 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9221.2008.00689.x |jstor=25655387}} In their apologies, some state officials do not always agree with scholarly characterization of the atrocities.{{Cite news |last=Davidson |first=Helen |date=22 September 2014 |title=John Howard: there was no genocide against Indigenous Australians |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/22/john-howard-there-was-no-genocide-against-indigenous-australians |access-date=2023-03-28 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB}}{{Cite journal |last=Thompson |first=Janna |date=May 2009 |title=Apology, historical obligations and the ethics of memory |journal=Memory Studies |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=195–210 |doi=10.1177/1750698008102052 |s2cid=145294135}}

File:Kalinga park se apology plaque.jpg

Pope Francis apologized for the Catholic Church's role in colonization and for "crimes committed against the native peoples during the so-called conquest of America".{{cite news |last1=Yardley |first1=Jim |last2=Neuman |first2=William |date=10 July 2015 |title=In Bolivia, Pope Francis Apologizes for Church's 'Grave Sins' |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/world/americas/pope-francis-bolivia-catholic-church-apology.html}} He has also apologized for the Church's role in the operation of residential schools in Canada,{{Cite web |date=25 July 2022 |title=Pope apologizes for 'catastrophic' school policy in Canada |url=https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-canada-apology-visit-137ad23719603e9d370257f257ec0163 |access-date=2023-03-28 |website=AP NEWS |language=en}} qualifying it as genocide.{{Cite web |date=30 July 2022 |title=Pope Francis: It was a genocide against indigenous peoples – Vatican News |url=https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2022-07/pope-francis-apostolic-journey-inflight-press-conference-canada.html |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=www.vaticannews.va |language=en |quote=It's true, I didn't use the word because it didn't come to my mind, but I described the genocide and asked for forgiveness, pardon for this activity that is genocidal. For example, I condemned this too: taking away children, changing culture, changing mentality, changing traditions, changing a race, let's put it that way, an entire culture. Yes, genocide is a technical word. I didn't use it because it didn't come to my mind, but I described it... It's true, yes, yes, it's genocide. You can all stay calm about this. You can report that I said that it was genocide.}} In 2023, the Vatican rejected the Doctrine of Discovery.{{Cite web |date=2023-03-30 |title=Vatican rejects doctrine that fueled centuries of colonialism |url=https://apnews.com/article/vatican-indigenous-papal-bulls-pope-francis-062e39ce5f7594a81bb80d0417b3f902 |access-date=2023-04-29 |website=AP NEWS |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Raising banner, protesters raise questions about 'Doctrine of Discovery' |url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/raising-banner-protesters-raise-questions-about-doctrine-discovery |access-date=2023-12-20 |website=National Catholic Reporter |language=en}}

In 2022 Justin Welby, the Primate of the Church of England, apologized to the Indigenous peoples in Canada for the role of the church in the Canadian Indian residential school system,{{Cite web |title=Read Archbishop Justin's apology to the Indigenous peoples of Canada |url=https://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/speaking-writing/speeches/read-archbishop-justins-apology-indigenous-peoples-canada |access-date=2024-01-28 |website=The Archbishop of Canterbury |language=en}} adding to similar apologies by other churches in Canada such as the Anglican Church of Canada.{{Cite web |last=Sanders |first=Leanne |date=2 May 2022 |title='I am ashamed, I am horrified': Archbishop of Canterbury expresses remorse over church's role residential schools |url=https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/i-am-ashamed-i-am-horrified-archbishop-of-canterbury-expresses-remorse-over-churchs-role-residential-schools/ |website=APTN News}}{{Cite journal |last=Bush |first=Peter G. |date=2015 |title=The Canadian Churches' Apologies for Colonialism and Residential Schools, 1986–1998 |journal=Peace Research |volume=47 |issue=1/2 |pages=47–70 |jstor=26382582}}

Scouts Canada has issued an apology for "its role in the eradication of First Nation, Inuit and Métis people for more than a century".{{Cite web |last=Pimentel |first=Tamara |date=October 5, 2023 |title=Scouts Canada issues apology for role in 'historical harm' on Indigenous Peoples |url=https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/scouts-canada-issues-apology-for-role-in-historical-harm-on-indigenous-peoples/ |website=Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) News}}

In 2016 the Australian Psychological Society apologized to Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders.Dudgeon P, Carey TA, Hammond S, et al. The Australian Psychological Society’s Apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People: Going beyond the Apology in the Teaching and Training of Psychologists. In: Rubin NS, Flores RL, eds. The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Human Rights. Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2020:553-567. {{doi|10.1017/9781108348607.038}} In 2023, the American Psychological Association issued an offer of apology to First Peoples for more than a century of harmful practices.{{Cite web |date=2023-08-25 |title=An apology to Indigenous communities sparks a mental health rethink |url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/apology-indigenous-communities-mental-health-rethink |access-date=2023-12-20 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=American Psychological Association, APA Indigenous Apology Work Group. |year=2023 |title=Report on an Offer of Apology, on behalf of the American Psychological Association, to First Peoples in the United States |url=https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/indigenous-apology.pdf |access-date=2023-12-20 |website=www.apa.org}} In 2024, the Canadian Medial Association issued an apology for mistreatment and unethical experimentation.{{Cite web |title='Deeply ashamed': Canadian Medical Association apologizes for harms to Indigenous peoples {{!}} Globalnews.ca |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/10762460/cma-apology-indigenous-harms/ |access-date=2024-11-24 |website=Global News |language=en-US}}

Professor Alice MacLachlan has criticized the apologies of the Australian and Canadian governments as they have apologized for specific policies, "avoiding the broader question of apologizing for a much longer history of genocidal appropriation and displacement."MacLachlan, Alice (2013). Government Apologies to Indigenous Peoples. In: MacLachlan, A., Speight, A. (eds) Justice, Responsibility and Reconciliation in the Wake of Conflict. Boston Studies in Philosophy, Religion and Public Life, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. Page 189. {{doi|10.1007/978-94-007-5201-6_11}} Francesca Dominello has said official apologies from Canada and Australia have done little to change the status quo for Indigenous peoples.{{Cite journal |last=Dominello |first=Francesca |date=2017 |title=Political apologies and their challenges in achieving justice for indigenous peoples in Australia and Canada |url=https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/political-apologies-and-their-challenges-in-achieving-justice-for |journal=Oñati Socio-legal Series |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=277–303 |issn=2079-5971}}

Indigenous historian Gary Foley has criticized the Australian government's apology for the Stolen Generations, as there is lack of compensation.{{Cite journal |last=Grewcock |first=Michael |date=2018 |title=Settler-Colonial Violence, Primitive Accumulation and Australia's Genocide |journal=State Crime Journal |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=222–250 |doi=10.13169/statecrime.7.2.0222 |issn=2046-6056 |quote=[Rudd] could have been a lot more honest and taken the opportunity to make it an apology to all Aboriginal people of Australia accompanied by some offer of reconciliation – a meaningful offer in terms of reparation and compensation...|doi-access=free |jstor=10.13169/statecrime.7.2.0222 }}

• Denial of genocides of Indigenous peoples
• Decolonization
• Genocide of Indigenous peoples
• Historiography of Indigenous genocide
• Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989
• Indigenous response to colonialism

• Bentley, Tom. (2018). Colonial apologies and the problem of the transgressor speaking, Third World Quarterly, 39:3, 399-417, {{doi|10.1080/01436597.2017.1401922}}
• Corntassel, Jeff; Holder, Cindy. (2008). Who’s Sorry Now? Government Apologies, Truth Commissions, and Indigenous Self-Determination in Australia, Canada, Guatemala, and Peru. Human Rights Rev 9, Pages 465–489. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12142-008-0065-3.
• Organick, A. G. (2019). Non-Apology in the Age of Apology. Denning LJ, 31, 149.
• Short, D. (2012). When sorry isn’t good enough: Official remembrance and reconciliation in Australia. Memory Studies, 5(3), 293-304.
• Rothermund, D. (2011). The Self-consciousness of Post-imperial Nations: A cross-national Comparison. India Quarterly, 67(1), 1–18.
• Tager, Michael. (2014). Apologies to Indigenous Peoples in comparative perspective. The International Indigenous Policy Journal, 5(4).

• Coates, K., & Coates, K. S. (2004). A global history of indigenous peoples. Palgrave Macmillan UK.
• Lind, J. (2017). Sorry states: Apologies in international politics. Cornell University Press.
• Ramsbotham, O., Miall, H., & Woodhouse, T. (2011). Contemporary conflict resolution. Polity.

Category:History of Indigenous peoples of the Americas

Category:History of Indigenous Australians

Category:History of colonialism

Indigenous peoples