National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Saturday September 30 is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day to honour the victims and survivors of residential schools and their families and communities.

It is a day that calls on all Canadians to commemorate the history and legacy of the residential school system, honour the resilience, dignity and strength of survivors and intergenerational survivors and remember the children who never came home. This day is also observed as Orange Shirt Day. Wearing orange honours the children who attended residential schools and recognizes the traumatic experience of Phyllis Webstad, who had her new orange shirt taken away from her on the first day she attended a residential school at the age of six.

Take the time leading up to this day—and all days—to acknowledge and better understand the history and harms that residential schools created, explore the vast learning resources available, support important related causes and organizations, and participate in programs created and led by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit organizers.

Read

• Take the Indian Out of the Child - While there are now many books about the Indian residential school system, this is the first to speak about the specific ways in which it has touched the syilx people.
• The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action
• The Witness Blanket, a large-scale work of art containing hundreds of items reclaimed from residential schools, churches, government buildings and traditional and cultural structures from across Canada.

Buy

• Orange shirts through Original Born Art (OBA), a social enterprise through Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society (KFS) that offers traditional and contemporary art workshops, mentorship, employment, portfolio building, capacity building workshops, and land-based programming for Indigenous youth.

Attend

•  Walk for the Children - a 5 km Walk for Reconciliation on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation hosted by the syilx Okanagan Nation Alliance in Penticton
• Truth and Reconciliation – (Un)learn with Kelowna Museums

Tour

• The sncewips Heritage Museum, which allows the public to experience the collections, histories, and oral stories of the syilx people from a sqilxʷ perspective.

Support

• Local indigenous businesses. Access the West Bank First Nation Business Directory

Donate

• To organizations like the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, a provincial organization that provides essential services to residential school survivors and families experiencing intergenerational trauma

Get support

• The Indian Residential School Survivors Society operates a 24-hour crisis line to support survivors and families across British Columbia and beyond. Survivors can also access support as part of the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. You can access this resource at 1-800-721-0066 or at irsss.ca

Note: City Hall will be closed for the statutory holiday Monday October 2nd