The (attempt at) reconciliation through apology: the Canadian case from a post-colonial perspective investigates the potential of the apology as a political tool. From an overview of how it fits into a larger literature on memory and trauma, I propose an analysis of church and state apologies in Canada for the residential school system implemented for the assimilation of indigenous communities and, more remotely, for colonial practices. Reflecting on the subject from a postcolonial approach, I also suggest exploring the temporal constructions and the possibility of resistance that such an instrument allows. Beyond that, I look at the limits of multiculturalism in the Canadian state, opening to critically reflect on the fact that, although there have been reconciliation initiatives through a discursive effort towards new nonviolent relations, one observes the maintenance of a marginalization of the victims.