Prime Minister Stephen Harper will officially apologize on June 11 on behalf of the government for abuses suffered by former residents of native residential schools, Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl said on Thursday.

Harper will make the apology in the House of Commons, as promised by the Conservatives in the government's throne speech, Strahl said.

He said it will be the "meaningful and respectful" apology that First Nations have been seeking for many years.

"I am hopeful that the apology will help turn the page from the sad legacy of Indian residential schools and open a new chapter — one that is founded on renewed hope, faith, mutual respect and trust," Strahl said in a statement.

Thousands of the former students say they endured sexual, physical and psychological abuse while attending the schools, which were run by churches and funded by the federal government from the 1870s until the mid-1970s.

The former Liberal government acknowledged in 1998 that physical and sexual abuse in the schools was rampant for much of the last century.

Truth commission begins work next month

Last May, in a symbolic gesture, members of all parties stood united to pass a motion calling on the House of Commons to apologize to survivors of native residential schools.

But then Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice had said a formal apology from the government was still years away.

A few months later, Canada formalized a landmark compensation deal for an estimated 80,000 former residential school students.

The federal government-approved agreement will provide at least $1.9 billion to former students of 130 schools.

Meanwhile, a truth commission examining abuse in native residential schools will begin its work June 1.

The aim of the five-year commission, which will hear personal stories from survivors of the residential school system, is to give a voice to those who suffered through the schools' systemic abuses and allow them to take steps toward healing.

With files from the Canadian Press