Each year, September 30th marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
The day honours the children who never returned home and Survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process. This federal statutory holiday was created through legislative amendments made by Parliament.
Irish in BC are honoured to recognise this day and to be able to work within the ancestral and traditional territory of the Coast Salish nations: Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations.
Please see below for additional resources and events to help you recognise the day, and to promote truth and reconciliation throughout the year.
Attend Virtual or In-Person Events across BC
Orange Shirt Day
Both the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day take place on September 30th. Orange Shirt Day is an Indigenous-led grassroots commemorative day intended to raise awareness of the individual, family and community inter-generational impacts of residential schools, and to promote the concept of “Every Child Matters”.
The Survivors’ Flag is an expression of remembrance, meant to honour residential school Survivors and all the lives and communities impacted by the residential school system in Canada. Each element depicted on the flag was carefully selected by Survivors from across Canada, who were consulted in the flag’s creation. For more information, visit: https://nctr.ca/exhibits/survivors-flag/
- Every Child Matters: Truth – Act One
- First Nations Experiences | Ep 1 | Residential Schools
- Métis Experiences | Ep 2 | Residential Schools
- Inuit Experiences | Ep 3 | Residential Schools
- Stolen Children | Residential School survivors speak out
- Residential school survivor Dennis Saddleman shares poem about his experience
- Intergenerational Trauma: Residential Schools
- New Heritage Minute explores dark history of residential schools
- Lillian Elias: A Residential School Survivor’s Story
- “The Stranger”
- Why so many Indigenous children died at residential schools in Canada
- Indigenous Peoples in the Canadian Residential Schools: RISE
- Indigenous survivor describes her ‘haunting experience’ of boarding school abuse
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