Prince Charles, Camilla kick off 3-day Canada tour
STORY: The three-day tour, the prince's 19th of Canada, will include the Northwest Territories and Canada's capital region, and is focused on the issues of climate change and reconciliation with indigenous peoples.
The visit is also part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations marking Queen Elizabeth's seven decades on the throne.
During a welcome ceremony at the Confederation Building, Prince Charles thanked the Indigenous peoples and recognized that his visit comes at an important time for Canada as it grapples with its past.
Under the auspices of Canada's federal government and in the name of the Crown, about 150,000 indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and enrolled in abusive church-run residential schools between 1831 and 1996.
Canada was rocked last year by discoveries of what is believed to be the remains of thousands of children at or near the sites of former residential schools. Canada's government was warned of high death rates in these schools, often due to abuse or neglect, more than a century ago.
"However, as we look to our collective future as one people sharing one planet, we must find new ways to come to terms with the darker and more difficult aspects of the past," Prince Charles said. "Acknowledging, reconciling and striving to do better. It is a process that starts with listening."
Although Canada ceased being a British colony in 1867, it remained a member of the British Commonwealth, with a British-appointed governor-general acting on the monarch's behalf.
