Truth and Reconciliation as a Pathway to National Healing
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation exists because survivors and communities demanded it. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Call to Action #80 called for a federal statutory holiday to honour survivors, their families, and communities, to ensure that the commemoration of the residential school system remains vital to reconciliation.
The government acknowledged this call in 2015, but it took until 2020 for Bill C-5 to be proposed—a second attempt after Bill C-369 died in the Senate in 2019—and the discovery of unmarked graves in May 2021 to expedite its passage into law. September 30 of the same year became the first official day of remembrance. This date aligns with Orange Shirt Day, which started as a grassroots movement in Williams Lake, BC, in 2013, honouring Phyllis Jack Webstad's story. In 1973, six-year-old Phyllis wore her new orange shirt—a gift from her grandmother—to St. Joseph Mission Residential School. It was stripped from her upon arrival. The stripping of that shirt represented everything that would be taken: language, culture, identity, family, and community.
The Question for Present-Day Canada
Year after year, September 30th sparks discourse, speeches, and gatherings of commemoration. But here is the uncomfortable truth we must confront:
Four years after this Call to Action was "honoured" into a law, what has structurally changed?
Indigenous women and 2-spirit community members are still missing and murdered at exponential rates that shame this country. Support and funding for Indigenous-led shelters and their transitional houses remain inadequate. The cycles of violence born from residential school trauma continue to devastate families and communities. These are not past legacies—they are present-day realities that the observance of a statutory holiday has not addressed.
For this not to be just another federal vacation—or a probable long weekend if it falls on a Monday-- what would it take to have that genuine commitment to reconciliation?
What Reconciliation Requires is Beyond Commemoration
The National Indigenous Circle Against Family Violence (NICAFV) stands at the intersection where commemoration must meet action. We believe that healing begins not only in truth-telling but in acknowledging and validating the cyclical nature of abuse, AND then addressing one of the most devastating intergenerational impacts of residential schools: the violence that continues to fracture Indigenous families today. Since 2002—even long before September 30th became a national observance—NICAFV has been promoting culturally grounded mechanisms that foster safe family environments, especially in Indigenous communities. We work with communities to directly address the legacy of trauma that this day commemorates.
Chief Dr. Wilton Littlechild, who served as a commissioner with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, first coined the term “reconcili-action” for a reason—reconciliation is not an abstraction; it demands action. Action means change, not just the remembrance of a statutory holiday or an orange shirt that an “ally” wears once a year. Change is policy reforms, which we have repeatedly advocated for. Change is funding, and change means Indigenous communities having the resources they need to heal and thrive.
For as long as cycles of trauma against Indigenous women, girls, and 2-Spirit community members prevail, for as long as we document disproportionately high rates of violence in and against Indigenous communities, NICAFV will continue to demand that change—for accountability and action for deep healing that reconciliation truly requires. Over the past four years of commemoration, we have heard the speeches and seen the orange shirts. Still, the funding falls short. Still, Indigenous women and children are not safe. Still, the violence continues.
We believe the “measure” of reconciliation is not how well we remember on this date, but how much we have changed —both as individuals and as part of the collective.
A Collective Call to Action
Everyone on these lands has a role in honouring the truth and walking the path toward reconciliation —to address the ongoing impacts of residential schools, including family and gender-based violence— and to promote Indigenous-led and supported solutions and initiatives. This could mean shifting one’s mindset, doing acts of support for survivors, taking the time to learn and call out systems that could harm Indigenous communities, or supporting Indigenous-led healing mechanisms and the rebuilding of Indigenous-led systems which were deliberately broken. This is action, not just acknowledgment. This is structural change, not a mere symbolic gesture. This prioritizes justice and fundamental human rights over comfort and the status quo.
We urge everyone to confront this truth: commemoration without transformation is merely performative—shallow and fleeting. The question now is not how much truth or shirt colour we recognize about September 30th. The question is what we do for “reconciliation” on September 29th, October 1st, and every day thereafter.
