David Ahenakew issued an abject apology on Tuesday. He says he's sorry for comments he made last week praising Hitler and the Holocaust.

The former head of Canada's most influential native rights group apologized and also resigned as head of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations senate.

Ahenakew had little choice but to face up to the controversy he stirred with his remarks.

David Ahenakew

A crush of reporters and aboriginal people crowded into a Saskatoon hotel to hear Ahenakew's apology.

It was emotional and filled with regret.

"I want to extend my most sincere apologies to members of the Jewish community, to the Holocaust survivors and your families. Such comments have no excuse," he said.

Perry Bellegarde

He also apologized to the other minorities he insulted and to Canada's aboriginal people for causing such embarrassment.

The former head of the Assembly of First Nations and Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations made the comments to a reporter for the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, after a profanity-laced speech last Friday.

Ahenakew said he did not believe in the views he expressed last week.

Irving Abella

"I was caught up in the heat of the moment. I was attempting to spark debate on what has been happening to our First Nations people," he said.

He said the comments were made in anger and frustration over the plight of native people in Canada. But he said that did not excuse his remarks.

FSIN Chief Perry Bellegarde said he accepted Ahenakew's apology and that the native organization also voted to formally apologize for Ahenakew's comments.

"We were all deeply saddened by them," he said. "We know what racism is."

Bellegarde said the organization will soon begin some form of discussions with the Jewish community, "just to make sure our communities come together and share."

Canadian Jewish Congress president Keith Landy called Ahenakew's apology a "positive gesture," but stopped short of accepting it.

Former CJC president Irving Abella was not prepared to forgive Ahenakew. "He really did not get into the sorts of things that caused him to say what he said," Abella said.

"The comments he made originally were so vile, so reprehensible, so monstrous, so odious that I think it will require much more than a written apology."

While many are asking how a native leader could hold such racist views, one person who knows him say Ahenakew has thought this way for years.

Doug Cuthand used to work with the the native leader and says Ahenakew believes what he said.

"I've heard him say this stuff before. He knew I was appalled by it, and I thought he was just trying to get a shock response. Over the years I've found that he really does believe it," said Cuthand.

To make amends, Ahenakew is bowing out of public life.

But the native statesman's problems aren't over yet. The Saskatchewan government still wants the RCMP to see if Ahenakew broke Canada's hate crime laws.

Abella is also calling for Ahenakew to be stripped of his Order of Canada.