[Ws32ok]

Apologies are hard for governments and corporations as they can't usually die like a natural citizen so there is no "at least it's in the past" aspect. The "person" who did the atrocity is still at large. They are still in your face. Often still taxing you. This is the sharp edged aspect for most indigenous peoples. The face of the past oppressor is still around, making rules and likely interfering by whatever definition you like to choose.

Racism/slavery is an excellent example as it clearly shows the divide between the pain and the recovery as well as the apology and healing. Given that whites were also trafficked as slaves it's hard to reconcile the diversity training I've been to. Such training was essentially racist against anyone of white skin and asserted sole responsibility. What about the Arabs, Africans, who kept slaves? Africans of all colours hunted and gathered slaves for sale. I heard nothing of this in the history lesson in that training. The British were until recently paying off a massive debt due to a former government paying for the abolishment of slavery [1]. Slavery hasn't even ended. It's still a thing that needs to be fought. At least it's now illegal and socially unacceptable. Governments can actually say the situation has been amended.

Does mean making amends make up for the now-crime-but-previously-non-crime? Does a government making it illegal really help? The straightforward answer is yes, but a substantive lingering anger will still remain. And that is the difficulty. It never ends. So it never heals.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Slavery_Act_2015