The residential schools have become a symbol of all that went wrong with the Canada's treatment of indigenous people. There is nothing that can excuse what went on in the schools. In that context, Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart's apology is, at best, a start towards repairing the damage.

As is apparent on other pages of this edition of News/North, the impact that the residential school system had on some of our readers has been deep and painful. Those wounds have yet to heal.

The residential school system stripped people of their rights, and often their pride. With that, the schools came to represent the dehumanizing of a people by a colonizing system that promised plenty and delivered little.

In that atmosphere, it is hardly surprising that the federal minister's promises were met with some skepticism.

Canada's relationship with aboriginals has been one of failed plans and unfulfilled promises. In apologizing, the federal government has taken a step towards restoring the dignity that comes with acknowledging people's human rights.

The next step is to acknowledge unequivocably the legal rights of Canada's aboriginal people. In the North that means settling land claims quickly and fairly.

The Royal Commission's recommendation that the government set up an independent claims commission is welcome so long as all of this is working towards a speedy resolution rather than another roadblock in the process.

The aboriginal people of this country waited a long time to get a weak response to a commission report that was five years in the making. Let's hope they don't have to wait as long for some resolution to the long-standing problems in their communities.

With unbridled capitalism all the rage among politicians of just about all stripes these days, we welcome Finance Minister John Todd's decision to at least listen to the NWT's voice of the left, Alternatives North, in preparation for his next budget.

Some of what the group would like to see -- surtaxes on diamond mining, for example -- amounts to little more than wishful thinking, something even Alternatives North's members recognize. But then, the same can be said of the demands of the business lobby.

Todd's willingness to listen is an encouraging sign of an open mind eager to explore all the options, something rarely seen in the NWT in the past, and even less often in the corridors of power down south.