Canada is to apologise for forcing more than 100,000 aboriginal children to attend state-funded Christian boarding schools aimed at assimilating them.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper will make the apology in parliament in Ottawa, in front of hundreds of ex-schoolchildren.
The schools operated from the late 19th Century until the 1990s, although most of them shut in the 1970s.
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The churches that ran the schools apologised in the 1980s and 1990s.
Australia apologised for a similar policy in February.
'Reconciliation process'
Mr Harper said aboriginal Canadians had been waiting "a very long time" for an apology.
"There are thousands of hearts and minds that will be at different stages of acceptance, but I hope that we will begin the process of healing and reconciliation," he said.
The head of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, said it was important that Canada acknowledge what had happened.
"All kinds of abuse was inflicted on innocent children. There are thousands of these stories, all of them true," he said.
Mr Fontaine was one of the first former schoolchildren to go public with his experiences of physical and sexual abuse at residential school.
A sincere and complete apology could go a long way in repairing the relationship between aboriginals and the Canadian government, he said.
However, some aboriginal leaders have expressed concern that they have not been consulted on the wording of the apology.
Settlement deal
The federal government acknowledged 10 years ago that physical and sexual abuse in the schools was rampant.
Many schoolchildren recall being beaten for speaking their languages, and losing touch with their parents and culture.
The legacy of the system has been cited by aboriginals as the root cause of epidemic rates of alcoholism and drug addiction among their people.
The apology is part of a C$2bn ($1.9bn; Ј990m) deal between the government, churches and the surviving former schoolchildren.
Under the agreement, they have begun receiving financial compensation for their suffering.
A truth and reconciliation commission has also been set up, which will be granted access to government and church records.
(BBC)
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