What is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation?

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a federal statutory holiday observed on September 30 each year. It was established by the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Act (S.C. 2021, c. 11), introduced as Bill C-5 by Justin Trudeau's Liberal government and given royal assent on June 3, 2021. The holiday honours the lost children and survivors of Indian residential schools, and their families and communities. The September 30 date coincides with Orange Shirt Day, founded in 2013 by Phyllis Webstad of the Stswecem'c Xgat'tem First Nation in British Columbia. The holiday was first observed in 2021, just months after the May 2021 Tk'emlups te Secwepemc unmarked-graves announcement.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission Call to Action 80 (June 2, 2015) had called on the federal government to establish a statutory holiday to honour residential school survivors and their families and communities. Justin Trudeau's Liberal government had committed to implementing Call 80 in 2017 and tabled Bill C-369 in 2017 (the predecessor bill which died on the order paper at the September 2019 election call). Bill C-5 was tabled September 29, 2020 and reintroduced as Bill C-5 in February 2021. After extensive consultation with the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Métis National Council, and other Indigenous organisations, the Bill received royal assent on June 3, 2021.

The September 30 date honours the history of Orange Shirt Day. Phyllis Webstad (Northern Secwepemc, born 1967) had her new orange shirt taken from her on her first day at St. Joseph's Mission Residential School in Williams Lake, BC in September 1973 (when Webstad was 6 years old). Webstad shared her story publicly at the 2013 St. Joseph's Mission Reunion. Orange Shirt Day was launched by Webstad and others on September 30, 2013 to commemorate residential school survivors. Wearing orange shirts on September 30 spread rapidly across Canadian schools, workplaces, and communities. The September 30 date also coincides with the typical first day of school, when children were historically removed from their families to residential schools.

The first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was observed on September 30, 2021. Many federal agencies, Crown corporations, and businesses adopted the day. Provincial and territorial holidays vary: British Columbia, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Yukon recognise it as a statutory holiday; other provinces have not yet enacted provincial equivalents (though many school boards close schools on the day). The holiday is marked by memorial events, commemorative wearing of orange shirts, walks, lectures, and educational programmes. Indigenous-led ceremonies and survivor testimony are central to many observances. The day complements Indigenous Veterans Day (November 8) and National Indigenous Peoples Day (June 21) in the Canadian commemorative calendar.