(Ottawa) La sortie de Jean Chrétien à l’émission Tout le monde en parle, dimanche soir, a fait plus que sourciller le député néo-démocrate Charlie Angus.
M. Angus ne croit tout simplement pas l’ancien premier ministre quand il dit qu’il ne savait rien des atrocités commises contre les enfants autochtones dans les pensionnats.
M. Chrétien a fait cette déclaration alors qu’il passait à l’émission diffusée à l’antenne de Radio-Canada pour y vanter un nouvel ouvrage qu’il a signé. Le livre s’intitule Mes nouvelles histoires.
M. Angus, qui se présentait à une conférence de presse à Ottawa, lundi matin, avec des survivants du pensionnat Sainte-Anne, a cité une lettre envoyée à M. Chrétien en 1968 alors qu’il était ministre fédéral des Affaires indiennes.
« Une des choses les plus émouvantes que j’ai vues dans la preuve de Sainte-Anne est une lettre écrite à la main par un enseignant, en 1968, racontant à Jean Chrétien les crimes qu’on y commettait contre les enfants », relate M. Angus.
Il ajoute que la lettre demandait au ministre Chrétien de « faire quelque chose ».
« Jean Chrétien n’a jamais répondu », dénonce aujourd’hui le député. « Imaginez ! […] How many children could have been saved? “, he asks.
“So, it is scandalous that Jean Chrétien today tries to exonerate himself for what happened at the Sainte-Anne boarding school. Because he knew! People joined him, begged him to do the right thing and he ignored them, ”accuses Mr. Angus.
Mr. Chrétien offered a completely different version on the television show.
“We never mentioned this problem when I was minister,” he said. “In any way? », Insisted the host Guy A Lepage. “Never,” assured Mr. Chrétien.
And then, the former Prime Minister saw fit to present his experience in classic college boarding schools as an example.
“Residential schools, that was known, residential schools. I was a boarder from the age of 6 until the age of 21. So, I ate baked beans, then oatmeal. And it is sure that it is difficult, the life of a boarder, extremely difficult, ”he offered.
When co-host Anaïs Favron relaunched it – “you never heard of stories about residential schools, weren’t even rumors? – Mr. Chrétien confused crimes against Indigenous children with sexual assault on minors in schools run by religious congregations. “I have never had a problem. I must not have been a pretty little boy, I guess, ”he replied.
The former prime minister shared a few other surprising comments to say the least.
“In the United States, it was the army that went to destroy the Aboriginals. We are missionaries that we sent. It’s less dangerous, ”he said.
He defended his accomplishments as Minister responsible for Indigenous issues for six and a half years, praising his efforts to improve access to higher education for Indigenous youth.
“I even adopted an Indian son to set an example. […] And that proves my attachment to this problem, ”he said.
The National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) used her Twitter account to criticize the comments of the former prime minister.