Saskatchewan native leader David Ahenakew held back tears Tuesday as he apologized for remarks he made last week in which he applauded Adolf Hitler for the Holocaust.

Ahenakew said he has decided to resign from the senate of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, and all other positions with the group.

"I want to publicly state that words cannot describe how sorry I am and for the hurt I have caused. I want to extend my most sincere apologies to the Jewish community, to Holocaust survivors and your families. Such comment has no excuse," he told a news conference.

Ahenakew, 68, then directed his apology to the people of Saskatchewan, to war veterans, his family, and to aboriginal peoples and leaders across the country.

"I have clearly embarrassed our people. I admit my own stubbornness, my pig-headedness, and my own personal embarrassment have prevented me from coming forward immediately to do the right thing in light of what I have caused with such irresponsible and painful comments," he said, holding back tears.

"Obviously, I got carried away last Friday, I got caught up in the heat of the moment. I was attempting to spark a debate about what's been happening to our First Nations people. I obviously lost my focus. My comments came out in anger and frustration... I will not make excuses."

Ahenakew, a former leader of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN), was meant to be speaking about the FSIN's position on health care at a news conference last week. Instead, he launched into an angry rant.

Ahenakew said that while serving in the army, Germans had told him Jews had started the war. Later, in an interview with a reporter from the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, he was asked to clarify his statements and Ahenakew said he agreed with his German friends.

He said Hitler "fried six million of those guys" because he was "going to make damn sure that the Jews didn't take over Germany or Europe."

"And look what they're doing. They're killing people in Arab countries."

Native leaders, Jewish groups react

On Tuesday, the CJC called the apology a "positive gesture." But president Keith Landy stopped short of accepting Ahenakew's apology, saying the nature of his comments were so "monstrous" that the Jewish community would need time to absorb what has happened.

"This has come at great personal cost to him," Landy said Tuesday. "He was a leader of some stature within the community and now has taken that step to resign. What he does from here on in will be up to him to determine."

The Canadian Jewish Congress has called for Ahenakew's Order of Canada to be revoked. The honour was bestowed on him in 1978.

David Matas, senior legal counsel for B'Nai Brith Canada, is also urging the RCMP to lay hate charges against Ahenakew. He said: "Criminal proceedings are necessary to deter others who might wish to make such grievous statements in the future."

The RCMP investigation of Ahenakew's comments will continue, Saskatchewan Justice Minister Chris Axworthy confirmed Tuesday. He said the apology does not resolve the matter, noting that the province has deep issues of race relations, both aboriginal and non-aboriginal.

It is a crime to "publicly incite hatred" under Section 319 of the Criminal Code.

In the native community, leaders are trying to heal relationships.

FSIN Chief Perry Bellegarde said the executive council has accepted Ahenakew's resignation. It also passed a motion formally apologizing to the Jewish community.

"We recognize his contributions but there's no way we can condone what he said," Bellegarde said.

Matthew Coon Come, the grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said now that Ahenakew has apologized, the real work will begin.

"Now the real work will begin trying to rebuild relationships that have been damaged and working with parties to make some kind of restitution and working towards reconciliation if at all possible."

With a report from The Canadian Press