The Regina & District Labour Council would like to mark the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. We are committed to working toward reconciliation with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples and we stand in solidarity with our Indigenous Sisters, Brothers and Friends!
We would like to remind everyone that this is a day for the many survivors of the Residential School System that had inflicted generational harms upon First Nations, Inuit and Metis Peoples. This day is a time to gather, a time to grieve and a time to heal from the tragedies of the dark history of our country; in that between 1883-1996 there were 139 Residential schools built.
Canada’s Residential Schools violently uprooted and impacted the lives of an estimated 150 000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, they were placed in government sponsored religious schools that were established to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture.
This past year, many were horrified when it was discovered that 215 Indigenous children’s were found in unmarked graves in Kamloops, British Columbia. Along with the many graves found in our very own Saskatchewan. There is an estimated 6000 children whom have died while attending these schools. The multi-generational impacts are deeply felt across Indigenous communities.
It is time to implement all of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action!
- National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
- Calls for Justice, TRC calls to action 71 through 76 on the Missing Children and Burial Information, which include searching all residential school burial sites in Canada and providing sufficient funding to the National Residential School Student Death Register.
- Urging all provincial and territorial governments to recognize September 30 as a statutory holiday to observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
- Dropping government court battles against residential school survivors;
- Ending discrimination against First Nations children in the delivery of child welfare services on reserves Implementing by reforming the First Nations Child and Family Services (FNCFS) program in compliance with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal’s ruling.
What we can do on this day September 30
- Learn about Orange Shirt Day
- Participate in an event online to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation such as Truth and Reconciliation Week, September 27 to October 1
- Donate and support Indigenous-led organizations and Indigenous community, supports such as the Indian Residential Schools Survivor Society, First Nations Child & Family Caring Society and Legacy of Hope Foundation;
- Read and learn more about Canada’s history and legacy of colonialism: on Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 Calls to Action, and the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) and its 231 Calls for Justice of Native Women’s Association of Canada’s Action Plan to End the Attack Against Indigenous Women, Girls, and Gender-Diverse People.
- Participate in an action on this day or event to gather and be a part of starting the healing process.
The time for RECONCILI-ACTION is now!
The Regina & District Labour Council Stands in Solidarity
with our Sister, Brothers and Friend
of the Indigenous, First Nation, Inuit and Metis Peoples
