Content warning: this article mentions death, Indigenous residential schools, and the ongoing violence committed against Indigenous peoples.
Today, September 30th 2021, marks the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. The day is meant to honour the lost children and survivors of residential schools, their families and communities. [1] While this is an important moment to grieve and reflect—we cannot stop here.
Over the past six months, over 1,300 unmarked children's graves have been discovered on the sites of former Residential Schools. [2] It’s likely there are many more: over 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend Indian Residential Schools. [3] 139 of them were set up across the country, and so far, less than 10 have been searched. [4] We know there are thousands yet to be found, and countless others who we may never find.
These figures are hard to comprehend, but we cannot become numb to them. Each of those 1,300 represents a child who was stolen from their family and never returned.
Residential schools are one feature of the state-designed system to destroy Indigenous culture and to subjugate and eliminate Indigenous peoples. This is genocide. [5]
And it is ongoing: the Canadian state continues to undermine the rights of Indigenous peoples, spending millions to fight Residential School survivors in court, foregoing provision of basic rights and services like clean drinking water to Indigenous communities, and sending militarized police into unceded Indigenous territory to violently remove air, water, and land defenders in the name of resource extraction. [6-8]
Today is a day to remind ourselves that the land we live on was never given up freely, but stolen through violence. Non-Indigenous people who live here still benefit from this—and we have the responsibility today, and every day, to work towards reconciliation and dismantle the genocidal legacy of the country we call Canada.
Here are three ways you can take action today:
1. Learn about the history and ongoing genocide of Indigenous peoples in Canada: take the time to learn about the Indigenous Nations whose land you live on, and ways that you can support their calls to action for sovereignty. If you don’t know what territories you are on, you can enter your postal code here to find out. There’s also a list below of resources to get you started.2. Take action: the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has 94 calls to action, including 6 which directly relate to the Residential School systems. We ask that you take the time to read these calls to actions, acknowledge the privilege we all have living on stolen land, and act.3. Donate: today is a federal statutory holiday. There is a call to action to donate One Day’s Pay of your holiday’s earnings, or whatever you can manage, to an Indigenous-led organization or project. The Leadnow team have curated a list of national organizations as well as frontline communities to donate to below.
Here is a list of resources to learn more, and communities/organizations you can donate to and support. This is not a comprehensive list and we encourage you to use it as a starting point to delve deeper about how you can act in solidarity with Indigenous Nations in your community as well.
Articles and Reports
The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Overview of the Indian Residential School System
Indigenous Children and the Child Welfare System in Canada
Calls to Action Accountability: A 2020 Status Update on Reconciliation
The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Reports
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action
What is Land Back? A settler’s FAQ
Stories from Survivors:
Residential School Survivors' Stories
Survivors Speak - A Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
Indigenous-led organizations to donate to and support:
National:
IRSS
National Center for Truth + Reconciliation
Orange Shirt SocietyBC Based:
Urban Native Youth Alliance Vancouver
Wet’suwet’en
Tiny House WarriorsOntario Based:
Assembly of 7 Generations
Toronto Indigenous Harm Reduction
1492 Land Back LaneAtlantic Based:
Mi'kmawPrairies Based:
Alberta Native Friendship Circle Association
The National Day of Truth and Reconciliation is just one day, but our solidarity with Indigenous communities must be year-round. For that reason, it is imperative for us to amplify the calls for justice and sovereignty from Indigenous peoples — not just in moments like these, but always.
In solidarity,
Adriana, Claire, and Maggie, for Leadnow
Sources
[1] https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/national-day-truth-reconciliation.html
[2] https://globalnews.ca/news/8074453/indigenous-residential-schools-canada-graves-map/
[3] http://www.anishinabek.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/An-Overview-of-the-IRS-System-Booklet.pdf
[4] See [2]
[5] https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/genocide-and-indigenous-peoples-in-canada
[6] https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/ottawa-st-anne-residential-school-court-costs-1.5809846
[7] https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sterilization-of-indigenous-women-in-canada
[8] https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kvak9/video-shows-cops-pinning-down-indigenous-man-during-fairy-creek-arrest
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STATEMENT ON NATIONAL DAY FOR TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
On this day we focus on truth and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. We acknowledge, consider, and honour their contributions to the country we call Canada.
There can be no reconciliation without truth.
The Douglas Coldwell Foundation recognizes the inhumane and unjust treatment of our Indigenous sisters, brothers, and siblings through colonization. These injustices are not just historical; they continue today.
The brutal colonization of Indigenous people was horrific and the lasting effects are tragic: genocide’ stolen lands; broken treaties and promises;, structured dispossession; forced displacement; and continued anti-Indigenous racism.
A national day of recognition is not enough if we do not act upon the truth and work more for justice.
We must come together to ensure support and resources for all Indigenous communities. This commitment must include access to drinking water and safe schools, reform of the child welfare system, actualizing Indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination, a full and comprehensive investigation into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, and legal prosecutions for the children killed in residential schools.
We must all steward the earth better, live up to our commitments to each other, and strive to live in proper relation.
The founders of the DCF worked hand-in-hand with Indigenous leaders to establish the framework that would become our universal healthcare system and many of the social democratic concepts of which Canadians are proud. Tommy Douglas and MJ Coldwell collaborated with many Indigenous leaders with the goal of building a federation that could lift everyone up. This vision has still yet to come true.
During our 50th Anniversary celebrations, the Douglas Coldwell Foundation will be shining a bright light on the contributions of outstanding Indigenous leaders, artists, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and youth in society, culture, and social democratic policy.
Indigenous people whether First Nations, Inuit, or Métis deserve more than words and promises. We all deserve respect, equality, justice, and full access to all benefits.
In a spirit of hope, we, the DCF, will strive to learn from our continued mistakes and help finally make Indigenous peoples - and the country - whole.
Learning, listening, and acting with a full heart, open mind, and strong hands in a spirit of solidarity can and will provide us a path toward realizing reconciliation and decolonization.
The Directors of the Douglas Coldwell Foundation thank our Indigenous sisters, brothers, and siblings for their wisdom, patience, and leadership.
We will do better including you and educating Canadians with you, as needed, about your histories, and accomplishments to create a better future together.
Especially today, we see you, hear you, appreciate you and seek to reconcile.
Chi Miigwech | Qujannamik | Marsee | Thank you | Merci
Content warning: This message contains details about Canada's residential schools.
September 30th, marks the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. We honour the lives of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis children uprooted from their families and reflect on the deep wounds borne by Indigenous Peoples ever since.
An estimated 150,000 children were forcibly removed from their families and communities, transferred to residential schools, sometimes thousands of kilometres away from their homes. They endured horrific conditions of physical and sexual abuse, unsanitary conditions resulting in disease, malnutrition and starvation, forced labour, and indoctrination out of their identity, languages and cultures. Thousands of children never made it home.
From 1831 to 1996, there were 140 federally run residential schools across the country. For years, survivors and communities spoke out about the intergenerational trauma caused by these institutions: from the trauma inflicted on these children within the system, their loss of language, community, and culture and ways of being, to the ongoing forcible removal and assimilation under the child welfare system.
The colonial policies and practices continue to this day: Indigenous children are overwhelmingly represented in Canada’s child welfare system; Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people experience staggeringly high rates of violence; and governments frequently approve industrial projects on Indigenous territories without their free, prior and informed consent.
Yesterday, in an important step towards justice for Indigenous children, the Federal Court upheld a landmark Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling ordering the federal government to compensate First Nations children and their families.
On this day, all non-Indigenous people are called upon to witness and act upon this truth, without which there can be no reconciliation.
What can you do to mark this important day of reflection? Read more in our blog.
We also invite you to join us at 7:00 pm EST today for a virtual conversation with legal scholar Tamara Starblanket. Tamara is Spider Woman, a Nehiyaw iskwew (Cree woman) from Ahtahkakoop First Nation in Treaty Six. She is the author of “Suffer the Little Children: Genocide, Indigenous Nations, and the Canadian State”, a groundbreaking book in which she exposes the forcible removal of Indigenous children as a crime under the UN Genocide Convention. Register now >>>
Indigenous Peoples have led the way in seeking truth, justice and accountability. Settlers must reflect on the remarkable work Indigenous communities have been doing to gather and analyze evidence, support survivors, and lobby nationally and internationally for recognition and restitution. This work is exhausting and retraumatizing.
We call on all non-Indigenous people to find the courage to face up to benefitting from the living legacy of colonization. We must take on the work we are being asked to do.
On this, the first annual National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, we ask you to turn reflection into action. Please join us in calling for justice and accountability for Indigenous Peoples by taking action today.
In solidarity,
Ketty & Mohamed
Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General
Mohamed Huque, Chair of the Board
Amnesty International Canada
The Indian Residential Schools Survivors Society is available for survivors and those affected at 1-800-721-0066 or on the 24 hour crisis line at 1-866-925-4419. British Columbia has a First Nations and Indigenous Crisis Line offered through the KUU-US Crisis Line Society at 1-800-588-9717.
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