State Apologies to Indigenous Peoples

This book considers the ethics and politics of state apologies made to Indigenous peoples. The prevalent tendency to treat an apology as a speech act has maintained the focus on the state leader making the apology and not on the victims' claims. This book demonstrates the inherent shortcomings of this approach through an examination of apologies delivered to Indigenous peoples in Australia and Canada. Contrasting the texts of these apologies with Indigenous peoples' responses, the book develops an understanding of apology as a relational process. This involves engaging Indigenous peoples in dialogue, the aim of which would be to address past injuries by fulfilling the apology's transformative promise of 'never again' to Indigenous peoples' satisfaction. The book concludes by examining more recent developments in Australia and Canada that highlight the continuing need for government accountability to fulfil this promise and ensure Indigenous people's rights and interests are upheld. This book will be of considerable interest to scholars and students in the fields of law and politics, Indigenous studies; forgiveness studies; transitional justice and reconciliation; settler colonialism and decolonisation.

Francesca Dominello is Senior Lecturer in the Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. She currently researches and teaches in the areas of Indigenous peoples and the law and family law from a social justice perspective.

1. Introduction 2. Making apologies: what do they do? 3. Sorry for what? Examining the Rudd and Harper apologies in their historical contexts 4. The Rudd and Harper apologies critically examined 5. Apology making as a relational process: re-focusing the Rudd and Harper apologies on Indigenous peoples 6. Australia post-apology 7. Canada post-apology