National Day for Truth and Reconciliation: What to know about its significance

While Canada gets ready to mark the second annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Friday, here’s what you need to know about the day’s significance, Orange Shirt Day and the lasting impacts of the residential school system on Indigenous communities.

What is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission?

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established in 2008 – as part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement – with the purpose of documenting the history of the Canadian residential school system as well as its harmful and continued effects on Indigenous peoples.

Between 2008 and 2015, the TRC travelled across Canada and heard the testimonies of more than 6,500 individuals from Indigenous communities. The TRC also hosted seven national events to educate Canadians about the history and legacy of the residential schools system. In 2015, the TRC released a report with their findings, which documented the truth about the residential school system and included 94 Calls To Action (or recommendations) of what Canada needs to do to achieve true reconciliation.

The recommendations specify an action plan for all areas of Canadian society, ranging from healthcare to media to education. One of the report’s Calls to Action, specifically number 80, called for the federal government to establish “a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to honour survivors, their families and communities, and ensure that public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process.”

For one residential-school survivor, making drums honours lost children

What is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation?

The day is a direct response to The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 80, which called for a federal statutory day of commemoration to acknowledge those affected by residential schools and to educate Canadians.

The House of Commons unanimously supported legislation in June 2021 to make Sept. 30 a federally recognized holiday to mark the history of and intergenerational trauma caused by the residential school system.

All Canadians should take Sept. 30 to observe National Truth and Reconciliation Day

The day comes at a critical juncture in history after the findings of unmarked burial sites of former residential-school students across the country touched off an outpouring of support from Canadians. The discovery of the burial sites was deemed by many politicians to be a moment of reckoning for the country and its need to come to terms with what happened in residential schools and the cascading effects the system has on the lives of Indigenous people today.

What is Orange Shirt Day?

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The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation coincides with Orange Shirt Day, a movement that began on Sept. 30, 2013, when residential school survivor Phyllis Webstad from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation opened up about her trauma caused by residential schools.

Forty years prior, Webstad arrived for her first day of residential school wearing a new orange shirt, bought by her grandmother, but school officials stripped her of her clothing and confiscated it.

‘Reconciliation barometer’ aims to keep Canada on track for justice for Indigenous peoples

Orange Shirt Day functions to raise awareness about Indigenous children who had their culture and freedoms ripped away from them, to honour the victims of residential schools, and to reinforce the message that “Every Child Matters.”

When did the last residential school close?

More than 139 residential schools operated in Canada between the 1800s and 1996, when the last one was closed. More than 150,000 Indigenous children – First Nations, Inuit and Métis – attended these schools. Many of those were subjected to physical and sexual abuse, as well as harsh conditions. More than 6,000 children are estimated to have died in residential schools.

Indigenous people have long suspected that former residential schools had unmarked graveyards that hid their horrific human cost. Hundreds of such graves were reported in the summer of 2021 as First Nations used ground-penetrating radar, archival detective work and the help of experts to find the remains of long-lost loved ones. The burials touched off an outpouring of support from Canadians.

“The trauma Canada’s residential school system inflicted on Indigenous people has left spiritual wounds. No family is left untouched,” writes Tanya Talaga, who visited the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation a year after the Kamloops unmarked graves’ discovery.

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What are Indigenous groups and leaders calling on Canadians to do?

As non-Indigenous people in Canada navigate the best way to honour survivors and their families, educators and residential school survivors offer their advice on what can be done to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is essential for all Canadians to honour

Dr. Meghan Beals, a physician and one of five young Indigenous leaders who were in Ottawa on Sept. 26 to speak to a Senate committee ahead of the federal statutory holiday, said the day should include a moment of silence. She suggested that, at 10 a.m., people could take a moment of silence “for the children who have been found, or for lost individuals.”

Canadians are also encouraged to wear an orange shirt and display an orange light inside or outside your window to show solidarity.

Is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation a national holiday in Canada?

The statutory holiday applies to all federal employees and workers in federally regulated workplaces. All federally regulated industries and workplaces will be closed, including banks, post offices and public services.

However, the majority of provinces and territories – with the exception of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut – have not followed the federal government’s move to make the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation a statutory holiday for its workers.

Learn the history of Indigenous People in Canada

• University of Alberta offers a free, online Indigenous Canada course that, from a historical and critical perspective, explores the complex experiences Indigenous Peoples face today
• The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation has a trove of records, mini-docs, maps and resources intended for learning and dialogue about the truths of residential school survivors

Recognize your role in the progress that still needs to be made

• Read the 94 Calls to Action in the Truth and Reconciliation Report
• Research the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which contains testimony from more than 2,380 family members, survivors and experts of violence against Indigenous women

Support authentic Indigenous businesses, artists, experiences and events

• Use Shop First Nations to find Indigenous goods and services to bolster First Nations, Inuit and Métis businesses
• Visit Destination Indigenous if you are looking for an immersive experience of traditional Indigenous culture through storytelling and culinary experiences on Indigenous territories
• Click buyauthentic.ca for a hub that helps consumers find and purchase Indigenous merchandise, showcasing craftsmanship that has been passed along for generations

Learn how to properly acknowledge the land we live on

• Visit native-land.ca to see whose traditional land you live on, and learn the names and geographical areas of other territories

If you require support

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation may conjure up difficult emotions as part of the reflection process. You are encouraged to reach out:

• Crisis Services Canada 1-833-456-4566 or text 45645
• Hope For Wellness Helpline for Indigenous Peoples, 1-855-242-3310
• Native Youth Crisis Line 1-877-209-1266
• National Indian Residential School Crisis Line provides emotional and crisis referral services at a 24-hour line, 1-866-925-4419

More reporting

• For one residential-school survivor, making drums honours lost children
• In the year after Kamloops, a family of residential-school survivors reclaim those who didn’t make it home
• Never forget: Indigenous storytelling and the importance of remembering
• Journalist Jesse Wente has spent a lifetime being uncomfortable. Join him, won’t you?

With files from Kristy Kirkup, Joe Friesen, Globe Staff, and The Canadian Press