What were the TRC's Calls to Action of 2015?

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action were the 94 Calls issued on June 2, 2015 by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in its Final Report 'Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future'. The Calls address residential school survivors' needs, education and reconciliation across Canadian society, child welfare, justice, language and culture, business, newcomers, and many other areas. The Calls to Action remain the leading framework for Canadian reconciliation and are used as a measure of progress by the Yellowhead Institute, CBC's Beyond 94 tracker, and other monitoring organisations.

The TRC operated from 2008 to 2015 under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. Commissioners were Chair Justice Murray Sinclair (Ojibway, the first Indigenous judge of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench), Marie Wilson, and Chief Wilton Littlechild. The TRC heard from about 6,750 survivors at national, regional, and community events across Canada. The Commission's work produced the seven-volume Final Report (June 2, 2015), the 94 Calls to Action, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in Winnipeg (which preserves about 5 million records on residential schools), and a comprehensive documentary record.

The 94 Calls are organised into thematic groupings: Legacy (Calls 1 to 42, addressing residential schools' ongoing impacts on child welfare, education, language and culture, health, and justice) and Reconciliation (Calls 43 to 94, addressing intergovernmental, international, education, sport, business, newcomer, youth, and other reconciliation matters). Specific Calls have produced policy actions: Call 13 (Indigenous Languages Act, 2019); Call 41 (National Inquiry into MMIWG, 2016 to 2019); Call 56 (federal annual reconciliation report); Call 57 (federal public service Indigenous-Crown relations training); Call 58 (the Pope's apology of 2022); Call 71 (federal Investigation of records on missing children and unmarked burials); and Call 80 (the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation of September 30, established 2021).

Implementation of the 94 Calls has been uneven. The Yellowhead Institute's annual reconciliation tracking finds that as of 2024 about 13 of 94 Calls had been fully implemented, with about 72 partially or proceeding and 9 stalled. The CBC's Beyond 94 tracker tracks similar progress. Federal-led Calls (Calls 1 to 17, 18 to 28, 41 to 63, and others) have generally seen more progress than Calls requiring provincial, religious, business, or other actor follow-through. Progress varies widely by province; some provinces (British Columbia, Saskatchewan) have made greater progress than others. The TRC's Calls to Action have shaped Canadian reconciliation discourse for nearly a decade and continue to set the standard for reconciliation work.