Thursday, September 30 is Truth and Reconciliation Day. It is a day to commemorate those who died, survived, and continue to live with the impacts of the tragic legacy left behind by Canada’s history of the residential school system.

Unsure of how to reflect upon the day? Below is a list of events, shows, books, and educational resources to help you get started.

Here are eight ways you can educate yourself and be an ally to the Indigenous communities across the country.

1. Read and/or watch the Honourable Murray Sinclair’s message (former chair of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada) on the discovery of mass graves on former residential school land.

2. Review the Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 Calls To Action and choose one (or more!) to act on.

3. Watch a young Métis girl named Rosie explain reconciliation.

4. Watch survivor Geronimo Henry share his story after spending more than a decade at the Mohawk Institute Residential School.

5. Read books by Indigenous authors. Raven Reads has compiled a list of books by Canadian Indigenous authors on Canada’s history. Learn about the origin of Orange Shirt Day, now Truth & Reconciliation Day, with founder Phyllis Webstad’s book The Orange Shirt Story”.

 

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6. Amplify Indigenous work, art, trades, and voices by supporting their businesses. Browse local Indigenous-owned services, shop Indigenous-owned retail, and gifts, eat at Indigenous-owned restaurants, and reflect in Edmonton’s Indigenous spaces.

7. Watch Citytv’s documentary Runs Through Their Blood: A Life Impacted. Produced by Indigenous students from the Weengushk Film Institute, the film airs commercial-free on September 30. 

8. Purchase your own Orange Shirt from TSC, with 100% of the net proceeds from sales will be split evenly between the Orange Shirt Society and the Residential School Survivors Society (IRSSS), a British Columbia-based organization providing essential services to Residential School Survivors, their families, and those dealing with intergenerational trauma. In addition to the net sales of the Orange Shirts, earlier this year Rogers Sports and Media also made an additional donation of $50,000 to the IRSSS to support them in their pursuit of Truth and Reconciliation in this country.

The shirts were designed by Patrick Hunter, an Ojibway artist and graphic designer from Red Lake, Ontario. The updated design includes a new shoulder patch depicting two children’s moccasins to commemorate the thousands of children lost to the residential school system.

Orange Shirts are available on TSC.ca until September 30, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

 

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