Jean Chrtien says he never heard about abuse in residential schools while he was minister

WARNING: This story contains distressing details.

Former prime ministerJean Chrtiensaid Sunday that during his tenure as minister of what was then Indian Affairs, he never heard anything about abuse happening in residential schools.

Chrtienmade the comments during an appearanceon the popular Radio-Canada talk show, Tout le Monde en Parle.

"This problem was never mentioned when I was minister. Never,"said Chrtien, now 87, of his time in the department from 1968 to 1974.

During the French interview,Chrtienappeared to draw acomparison betweenhis own experience attending aconventional college boarding school as a teenagerto that of Indigenous children who were forced to attend residential schools.

"I ate baked beans and oatmeal. And to be sure, it was hard living in a boarding school, extremely hard.Here in Quebec, we had to [in order to get into university]," he said.

"In Shawinigan,we didn't have a college. We had to go toTrois-Riviresor to Joliette," he explained. "We had no choice. It was hard but my parents insisted I go to university and I had to do it."

Chrtien said while he didn't enjoy sleeping in a dorm with 200 others, he "never had a problem."

Stories of physical and sexual abuse of Indigenous children in residential schools were documented in the 2015Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

More recently, discoveries of unmarked graves on residential school sites have once again brought the issue to the forefront.

Innu author critical of former PM's comments

The former prime minister'scomment drew the ire of another guest on the talk show,Innu author Michel Jean.

"Respectfully, I don't thinkMr. Chrtienknows exactly what residential schools are," he said.

"The word boarding school makes people think it was a school where we teach people to write, but it wasn't that."

He said that whileChrtien might recall eating poor-quality food, it doesn't compare to what children in residential schools were subjected to.

"My mother's cousin told me that when there was duck, the nuns would keep the duck meat and cut the feet off, with its toenails still on, boil that in water, and that's what they gave to the kids."

Jean described how members of his own family suffered abuse in residential schools.

"There is someone in my family who attended a residential school in Fort George who was sexually assaulted every day for eight years by a nun," said Jean.

"It was called a boarding school, but it was not a school."

'We can't rewrite history'

Chrtien, who appeared on the talk show to discuss his new book, said that he was aware of the existence of residential schools, but not what was going on there.

InChrtien's autobiographical book, the former prime ministerrecounts an anecdote where he advisedQueen Elizabeth not to apologize to the Maori people of New Zealand for the harm done to them bythe British colonial administration.

Chrtien writes in the book that he told her: "Your Majesty,if you start [apologizing]I will have to bring you to Canada and, since we have several hundred Indigenouscommunities, you will be on your knees for at least two years."

When asked about this,Chrtiensaid it's fine to apologize, but"we can't rewrite history. Terrible things happened."

Chrtien went on todefendhis record, saying he tried to improve the lives of Indigenous people in Canada, both personally and politically.

"I even adopted an Indigenous son, to lead by example," he said. "This proves my investment in this issue."

The last of the residential school sites in Canada closed in 1997, whileChrtien was prime minister.

How to get help

Support is available for anyone affected by their experience at residential schools, and for those triggered by the latest reports.

A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for residential school survivors and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419.