Why are you talking about apologies if there is no guilt involved?
We are apologizing all the time. What does an apology from a PM mean if they aren't speaking for you? We can acknowledge bad things happened in the past and try and make them right without taking personal responsibility for them.
So when Harper apologized for residential schools on behalf of the government and all Canadians, you think he was saying he, you, me and everyone else, personally, were responsible for what happened?