The government of B.C. was on the brink of issuing an apology to Doukhobor children who were confined in a remote institution in the 1950s, but it was cancelled at the last minute. The elderly group of survivors have been waiting for an apology for decades.
Seventy years after about 200 children were snatched from their homes and confined for several years in a remote institution in the Kootenays, the government of B.C. was on the brink of issuing an apology this week. But it was cancelled at the last minute, leaving the now-elderly group right where they have been for decades — waiting for a simple “we’re sorry” from the province. It doesn’t appear to be an about-face, or a double-cross.
It was just bad scheduling and a belated recognition that the atonement for the treatment of Doukhobor children in the 1950s would not work as originally planned. But it is still a shame. It was discourteous to throw the event together with so little thought. Officials gave the dwindling group of survivors little time to prepare and only offered a webcast of the planned event. Cancelling it at the last minute compounded that. Jay Chalke is the latest in a series of B.C. ombudspersons who have handled this file over two decade
B.C. Government Apology Doukhobor Children Remote Institution Cancellation Survivors