Child migrants: What do you think of the countries' apologies?

Britain plans to issue an apology Monday for child migrant programs that shipped as many as 150,000 poor British children to Australia, Canada and other former colonies over 3 1/2 centuries.

The British government said Sunday that Prime Minister Gordon Brown would apologize for the programs, which were intended to give children of struggling families a new start, but also saw many suffering abuse and neglect far from their homeland.

Many of the children were sent to work on farms, while others ended up in institutions where they were physically and sexually abused.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd offered his own apology Monday for his country's role in the child migrant programs.

At a ceremony in Canberra, Rudd also extended condolences to the 7,000 survivors of the programs who still live in Australia.

"We are sorry," Rudd said. "Sorry that as children you were taken from your families and placed in institutions where so often you were abused. Sorry for the physical suffering, the emotional starvation and the cold absence of love, of tenderness, of care. Sorry for the tragedy -- the absolute tragedy -- of childhoods lost."

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What do you think of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology for his country's role in the child migrant programs? Should Prime Minister Stephen Harper issue an apology on behalf of Canada?

You tell us.