Just like people countries mature over time too. Different events have helped Canada in maturing as a country in the last 100 years. Events such as the unfair treatment of aboriginal peoples and forced registration of aboriginal children in residential schools have helped Canada in maturing as a nation. Women and men are now treated equally, that wasn't the case in Canada for 100's of years. Canadian workers had to face a lot of violence and many strikes to attain the rights they have now. Canada has matured as a nation.
The Aboriginal peoples of Canada are now being treated much better than a 100 years ago. Firstly in the 1870's over 150,000 aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their communities and put into church-run and government funded residential schools, where they suffered emotional, physical and sexual abuse at young ages. Residential schools were basically boarding schools where Aboriginal children would be taught English and be forced to adopt christian and Canadian customs. "Two primary objectives of the Residential Schools system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture. . Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country."(Statement of Apology ").
This quote has been taken from P.M. Harper's statement of apology in 2008, on behalf of Canadians for the Indian Residential School Systems. The apology proves that the Canadian government has realized that the concept of the schools was wrong and that they apologize for it. Realizing that you have done something wrong and apologizing for it is a mature thing to do. Furthermore Aboriginal peoples traditional ceremonies were wrongly banned. In 1958 there were changes made to the Indian act so that many of the laws banning key customs were no longer effective.
