National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
After years of advocacy by survivors, families and community, September 30th, 2021 is the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It is a day to honour residential school survivors, those who did not make it home, their families, and their communities. It is also a time to reflect on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action.
As noted by IISAAK OLAM Foundation, a key theme contained within the TRC’s Calls to Action is that reconciliation between Crown and Indigenous societies cannot happen until there is reconciliation with the land. This reminder is timely as we face joint climate change and biodiversity crises in Canada and globally. Lands and waters are woven into the identities, languages, knowledges, laws and cultures of Indigenous Peoples. This is why we are working with Indigenous Nations, environmental organizations and agencies, and academic institutions to advance Indigenous conservation leadership in the spirit of reconciliation. When Indigenous Peoples carry out their responsibilities to lands and waters, through the respect and recognition of treaty and Aboriginal rights and title, they are revitalizing everything that was almost lost through a system of assimilation, oppression and violence.
The Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership has focused its work on relationship building because we know reconciliation doesn’t happen in one day. True reconciliation requires an ongoing commitment to build and maintain respectful and equitable relationships. That’s why we are working in Ethical Space with Indigenous leaders, Elders, youth, and non-Indigenous partners to co-create a new vision for the future. This process does not have an end date. We are co-designing legacy projects so the spirit of our collective work will live on.
In June, after the tragic discovery of a mass grave at a former Kamloops Residential School, we released a joint statement calling for accountability, justice and the ongoing search for truths. On July 1, the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership’s Elders Lodge shared a collection of voices to honour the spirits of the children who never came home, to unite us in building a better future for generations to come, and to bring us back into balance with Mother Nature.
In the third year of our Partnership, we are guided by the sacred gift of bravery – bravery is required for deep internal reflection, to recognize truths about the health of Mother Earth, and to come together to heal and build a future for the next seven generations. Many Canadians are still unaware of the truths behind the establishment of the Canadian nation-state. And so we call on Canadians to learn and lean into these uncomfortable truths.
As we are reminded by Elder Albert Marshall, it is through learning that we are transformed and it becomes our responsibility to act on what we have learned for the benefit of all of creation.
- The CRP Leadership Circle
Canada’s Indian Residential School Survivors and Family Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day at
1-866-925-4419.
For additional resources please see below:
Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program: https://www.fnha.ca/what-we-do/mental-wellness-and-substance-use/residential-schools
National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation: nctr.ca
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action: http://trc.ca/assets/pdf/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf
Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls: https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report/
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: https://www.ictinc.ca/books/21-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-indian-act
Podcast: Telling our Twisted Histories https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/906-telling-our-twisted-histories?cmp=DM_SEM_Listen_Titles
Video Series: What is Land Back? https://davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/what-is-land-back/