The city where I was born, the city of Montreal, was founded in 1642 by a group of French catholic missionaries who had two objectives: to open an outpost for the fur trade and to convert the Mohawks and the Wendats (Hurons) to the catholic religion. I think that sums up pretty much what the European nations did on the American continent: to strip off the First Nations of everything they had, their land, their culture, their languages, their identities, their lives all in the name of a so-called supremacy and the reckless exploitation of the natural resources.
Too often, the First Nations are like a third world within our own borders. To admit our wrongs is one thing, to bring back fairness is another. It takes political will and the funds to go with it, something that our leaders never even came close to have. It mostly takes the will to stand up against the corporations that sees the First Nations as an obstacle in their way of reaching for the resources of the land (mines, oil), the forests (lumber) and the rivers (hydro dams).