On Thursday, September 30, Canada will mark its first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It honours the survivors and lost children of Canada’s residential schools, along with their families and communities.
If you are wondering how and where you can meaningfully participate in Truth and Reconciliation Day, I’ve collected some suggestions, which appear later in this post under the subhead “Do.”
But first, I’d urge you to watch or read some of the statements and interviews with Indigenous people in the “Listen” section of this post, for their insights into how they would like Canadians to approach this occasion. As a non-Indigenous person, I strongly believe that our first task is to listen, to hear and to do our best to understand.
I’ve also provided a section of links to resources (under the subhead “Learn”) that will help you deepen your knowledge of Canada’s residential school system and the broader history of the Indigenous peoples of this continent.
Note: The content of this page may be disturbing to some visitors. Residential school survivors are invited to call the National Indian Residential School Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419 for support.
Listen
These are just a few of the many statements by Indigenous people available online to help us all understand the context of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
In the video above, Legacy of Hope Foundation Board President Adam North Peigan reflects on the discovery of unmarked graves at residential schools earlier this year and on avenues for reconciliation.
In this CBC story, Chief Darlene Bernard of the Lennox Island First Nation in P.E.I., shares five suggestions for ways to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The story also includes a list of books recommended by historian Tammy MacDonald.
In the video above, third-generation residential school survivor Phyllis Webstad of the Canoe Creek/Dog Creek First Nation discusses her experience at the St. Joseph Mission Residential School in Williams Lake, British Columbia. That experience led to the launch of Orange Shirt Day as a way to acknowledge the tragic legacy of the residential school system.
In this editorial in the Ottawa Citizen, Lorraine Whitman, President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, calls on all Canadians to mark the day by holding their elected representatives to account by demanding that they meet the Calls to Action.
Learn
Again, this list is far from exhaustive, but I hope it provides some useful inspiration.
- Indigenous Canada (see video above) is a 12-week online course offered by the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta that provides a comprehensive introduction to Indigenous history and issues. You can take it out of interest free of charge, or pay a fee to earn a certificate or university credit.
- Reconciliation Canada is a national charitable organization that encourages Indigenous people and non-Indigenous Canadians to engage in honest, open conversations about reconciliation. It runs a weekly live Zoom gathering called Bringing Our Children Home on Saturdays at 1pm EST, hosted by Mi’maw radio personality Candy Palmeter.
- The Legacy of Hope Foundation is a national charitable organization, based in Ottawa, that builds awareness of the intergenerational impacts of the residential school system, the Sixties Scoop, and missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Its website offers a range of educational resources.
- The Indian Residential School Survivors Society is a British Columbia organization that supports survivors and their families. It has numerous links on its page illuminating the history and legacy of residential schools, and also accepts donations.
- Many of the resources here would be challenging for children to read and understand, but CBC Kids has a YouTube page of Indigenous-related content suitable for young viewers.
- Good Minds is an Indigenous-owned business based on the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Ontario that sells an extensive range of First Nations, Inuit and Métis books and other educational resources for all ages.
- If you haven’t already, please read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report, particularly its calls to action. Help make sure that this isn’t just another commission report that gathers dust.
- The federal government’s page about the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation includes numerous links to resources focusing on Indigenous history and concerns.
Do
These are just a few of the many activities available on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation this year. All of the events below are being held on Thursday, September 30. In many cases, participants are invited to wear orange clothing, in recognition of the fact that this is also Orange Shirt Day.
- Remember Me: A National Day of Remembrance is a full day of events in Ottawa, including morning ceremonies on Parliament Hill, a noon-hour Spirit Walk from Parliament Hill to Confederation Park, and performances, art demonstrations, speakers and more at Confederation Park throughout the afternoon.
- Beechwood Cemetery is hosting a public Day of Reconciliation in partnership with the Project of Heart, the Assembly of 7 Generations, and the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society (Caring Society). The two-hour program, offered from sunrise to sunset, includes a visit to a labyrinth composed of 57,000 hand-painted tiles created through the Project at Heart program to honour the Indigenous children who died in residential schools; an educational tour of plaques in the cemetery commemorating some of the key figures in the residential schools program; readings from the book Spirit Bear: Echoes of the Past; and screenings of the animated film Spirit Bear and Children Make History. The events are free but you must register online in advance. You can also participate online.
- The Canadian Museum of History has a page on its website highlighting museum exhibitions, movies and other resources (both in the museum and online) related to Indigenous history. Admission to the museum is free today.
- The City of Pembroke is organizing a Blanket Exercise at the Pembroke Waterfront from 9am to noon. The event is designed to build empathy and understanding among Indigenous and non-Indigenous people by exploring pre-contact, treaty-making, colonization and resistance history. The gathering is free, but online registration is required on the event’s website.
- In Perth, Lanark County is marking the day with an outdoor ceremony at the Lanark County Administration Building at 9am (the event will also be livestreamed). Later in the day, an Orange Shirt Day ceremony will take place at the Perth Healing Forest Memorial in Last Duel Park at 5:30pm.
- In Brockville, there will be a walk-through exhibition in Hardy Park, complemented by drumming and a Ceremony Circle (10:30am to 4pm). Admission is free, but you’ll need to reserve a timeslot via the event’s website.
- A free Zoom talk by legal scholar Tamara Starblanket, author of Suffer the Little Children: Genocide, Indigenous Nations, and the Canadian State, will be held on Thursday, September 30, at 7pm. The event is presented by Ottawa’s Octopus Books.
- The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba is hosting a week of virtual events (September 27 to October 1), including online events for students and for the general public.
Ottawa Road Trips acknowledges that its office, located in Ottawa, is on the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg Nation.