Manitoba minister says residential schools meant to eliminate Indigenous people

Aug 4, 2021 | 10:15 AM

WINNIPEG — A Manitoba cabinet minister who once defended some of the intentions behind residential schools now says they were part of a genocide.

Alan Lagimodiere says former prime minister John A. MacDonald’s plan was to eliminate Indigenous people from Canada.

And he says it was not just cultural genocide — the term often used — but genocide.

Lagimodiere was sworn in last month as Manitoba’s minister of Indigenous reconciliation and northern relations.