Premier François Legault has apologized for how Quebec has treated Indigenous peoples, following the release earlier this week of a damning report that concluded they are subject to “systemic discrimination.”
“I offer Quebec’s First Nations and Inuit people the most sincere apology from the entire state of Quebec,” Legault said Wednesday at the province’s National Assembly.
“The state of Quebec has failed in its duty to you.”
His speech was followed by a lengthy round of applause from elected members and a group of Indigenous leaders watching from the gallery.
The apology was the first of 142 recommendations made in the report issued Monday by retired Superior Court justice Jacques Viens.
Legault said he would study all the recommendations and work with Indigenous groups to improve the situation.
In the report, Viens said it is “impossible to deny” Indigenous peoples are victims of “systemic discrimination” in accessing public services.
He said improvements are needed across the spectrum, including in policing, social services, corrections, justice, youth protection and mental health services, as well as to the school curriculum to properly reflect the history of First Nations and Inuit in the province.
Viens’s inquiry was launched in 2016 by the then Liberal government, following a Radio-Canada investigation into allegations of police misconduct against Indigenous women in Val-d’Or, a city 500 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
Advocates have welcomed the possibility of an apology from the premier, they have also stressed the importance of making concrete changes to government services.