September 30th: National Day of Truth and Reconciliation

Dear neighbour,

Thank you for the privilege and honour to represent our community once again as your Member of Parliament. I look forward to continuing being your strong voice for Toronto—Danforth in Ottawa. 

Thursday will be our country’s first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. The creation of this national day is in response to one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. The date was chosen because it is the time of year when Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families to attend residential schools.

September 30th has been recognized in many communities as “Orange Shirt Day”. The significance of the orange shirt comes from the lived experience of Phyllis Webstad when she was forced to attend a residential school. Ms. Webstad has been a strong advocate for the creation of the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. You can read her testimony at the Standing Committee of Canadian Heritage and learn more about Orange Shirt Day.

I recently read the book “Five Little Indians” by Michelle Good, a Cree author. For non-Indigenous Canadians there are many ways we can learn more about our country’s history and consider paths forward. In this email, I am providing some resources for learning and to commemorate the day. As we consider how to mark the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, I leave you with some thoughts from Michelle Good, speaking about the importance of a National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.

This day may be a particularly difficult day for the members of our community who are former Residential School survivors or your loved ones. Please know that there are mental health supports available at 1-866-925-4419. You can also go to The Hope for Wellness Help Line 24/7  for counselling and crisis intervention: 1-855-242-3310 or connect to the online chat.

Many local businesses and community groups have worked to fundraise to support residential school survivors. You can donate directly to the Indigenous Residential School Survivors Society.

Please read below for learning resources and events for the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.

Local Events

Elder Little Brown Bear will be offering a sacred fire and four pipe ceremonies at the Bear’s Den All Nations Traditional Medicine Sweat Lodge located at Michael Garron Hospital (825 Coxwell Ave). The pipe ceremonies will be at 8am, noon, 3pm and 7pm. 

South Riverdale Community Health Centre will be having a celebration of Indigenous arts and culture in their courtyard from 1pm–3pm (955 Queen St E).

Matriarchal Circle is hosting an event at Yonge and Dundas Square honouring Indigenous Survivors from 11am–4pm.

If you have the means, Crow's Theatre (345 Carlaw Ave), is holding the world premier of the retelling of Shakespeare's As You Like It by Indigenous creator, Cliff Cardinal. The play is on now until October 10th. 

For those wanting to listen or watch national events, the CBC will have a full day of programming. You can see the viewing guide here. 

Educational Resources

Part of the path towards reconciliation is learning and education. In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, headed by Senator Murray Sinclair, delivered its final report and identified 94 Calls to Action. Establishing a federal statutory day of commemoration was a direct response to Call to Action 80.

This is but one Call to Action that has been completed. There is much to be done and you can view other completed actions and others that are in progress.

There are several educational webinars this week. Native Child and Family Resources Toronto will be having a webinar on Thursday discussing how to decolonize Indigenous child welfare services. The webinar starts at 9am. 

This whole week, there is online programming offered by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation aimed for grades 5 to 12. There is also an online event hosted by Every Child Matters this entire week: Truth and Reconciliation Week.

I have and will continue to read directly from Indigenous authors. I find this reading list of Indigenous books for children, teens and adults very useful. As well, the Toronto Public Library has an extensive reading list.