2021 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

This year has shown us more than ever the struggles that Indigenous Peoples have faced throughout our history.

SHCHC is pleased that the federal government has taken steps to officially recognize a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. As a Community Health Centre that serves indigenous people, we are encouraging our staff, students and volunteers to use this day to reflect on our nation’s past, educate themselves about Canada’s untold history and commit to true reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and their nations.

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As part of our commitment to truth and reconciliation, the SHCHC will honour the annual federal statutory holiday on September 30, 2021, by observing this holiday as a day of reflection and education for all staff, students and volunteers. Although not proclaimed a holiday in Ontario, SHCHC will be observing this day with opportunities for staff, students and volunteers to take time through educational materials, conversations and reflection.

Between 1831 and 1996, the federal government forcibly removed more than 150,000 First Nation, Inuit and Métis children from their families and sent them to residential schools far from their homes. These family separations were very traumatic for parents, children and communities, because they were done against their will and without their consent. At these church and government-run schools, officials robbed many Indigenous children of their culture, language, religion and traditions, and caused them tremendous physical, mental, emotional and sexual harm.

The Honorable Murray Sinclair, the former chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, estimates that 25,000 children never made it home: they died as a result of malnutrition, disease, hypothermia, neglect and abuse.

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Today, we witness the disclosure of thousands of unmarked graves on the sites of former residential schools.

They are called disclosures rather than ‘discoveries’, because survivors have been sharing their stories for more than one hundred and fifty years: the oral histories of siblings, friends and classmates who went missing and died at residential schools are well known throughout Indigenous communities.

Unfortunately, Canadian society failed to listen to survivors and believe their stories.

The new holiday was proposed in 2015 by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, which called upon the federal government, in collaboration with Aboriginal peoples, to establish a statutory holiday to honor survivors of residential schools, 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.

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On June 3, 2021, the federal government passed a law which made September 30th a new federal statutory holiday, called the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This law is in response to Call to Action #80, which urged the federal government to create a statutory holiday to commemorate survivors, their families and communities.

It is vital to understand that this new national day of remembrance and reflection is only possible because of the advocacy, resilience and determination of Indigenous people who have fought for this recognition for decades.