2024 National Day for Truth & Reconciliation
For more than a century, thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their homes and placed in residential schools, as part of a policy of assimilation into European and Christian culture.
The City of Calgary commemorate Indian residential school victims, honours survivors and their families, and commits to acting on reconciliation. Remembering the Children.
National Day for Truth & Reconciliation
On Monday, September 30, gather for presentations from various speakers, including the Mayor, Indigenous Elders, and school board representatives at The Confluence Historic Site & Parkland (previously Fort Calgary). A blessing from an Elder will start the event and Indigenous dancers will entertain during.
Monday, September 30, 9 - 10:30 am
The Confluence Historic Site & Parkland,
750 9 Avenue SE
Everyone is strongly encouraged to wear orange as a sign of support and to honour the children who didn't return from residential schools across the country.
Other Ways to Get Involved
Read the Calls to Action in the White Goose Flying Report
Written in 2016 by the Calgary Aboriginal Urban Advisory Committee, the White Goose Flying Report sorted the 94 Truth and Reconciliation calls-to-action into 43 calls-to-action that The City of Calgary can directly implement or support the implementation of. The report is named after an Indian Residential School student who died while attending St. Dunstan’s Indian Industrial School; his name was Jack White Goose Flying.
Read the Calls to Action in the Truth & Reconciliation Commission Report
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) was created with the mandate to inform all Canadians about what happened in residential schools. The TRC carried out extensive research, including hearing from Residential Survivors, their families, members of their communities, former staff of residential schools, and others. Their final report was released in 2015, and includes Ten Principles for Reconciliation and 94 Calls to Action that speak to all sectors of Canadian society.
Donate funds or time to a local Indigenous organization
There are many organizations doing important and meaningful work to support the Indigenous community in Calgary and Alberta. If you have the means, monetary donations or volunteering your time can go a long way toward ensuring they can continue to provide care and service.
Here are just a few of the organizations worthy of our support:
Indigenous Gathering Place - A registered society formed in direct response to the call for a reconciled Canada, supporting the pursuit of a physical Indigenous gathering space within the City of Calgary.
Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth (USAY) - Providing essential programming and services to Calgary's Indigenous youth.
Aboriginal Friendship Centre of Calgary - Providing Indigenous cultural connection through programs and services for the urban community as well as access to resources that address the social and economic realities of urban Indigenous people.
Bison Clan Bow River - A volunteer-led, grassroots group providing community outreach, supplies, harm reduction, and education to those in need in downtown Mohkínstsis.
Miskanawah - Grounded in cultural traditions and teachings, Miskanawah has operated in Calgary for over 35 years, offering programs and services for family, youth, clinical and cultural mental health, crisis, housing, and cultural and ceremonial supports.
Cousins Skateboard Community - A group of friends and allies who want to see skateboarding used to empower youth within Indigenous communities.
Awo Taan Healing Lodge Society - An emergency women's shelter in Calgary providing protection and support to anyone affected by family violence or abuse.
Land of Dreams Farm - An urban farming initiative, Land of Dreams offers refugees and newcomers a unique opportunity to build connections between Indigenous peoples through the development and cultivation of a community garden.
Spirit North - Connecting Indigenous youth to sport, play, the outdoors and the land.
Elizabeth Fry Society Indigenous Cultul Supports - offering a hand up to women and youth engaged with the legal and justice systems. EFS offers culturally aligned support to Indigenous women that helps address intergenerational trauma, nurtures reconnection to Indigenous culture, and encourages healing.
Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society - An Indigenous-led, settler-supported arts and culture organization promoting healing by transferring knowledge and culture through the arts.
CIF Reconciliation Society - An Indigenous-led non-profit organization, dedicated to honouring the children of the past, the present & future generations.
Native Counselling Service of Alberta - NCSA promotes the resilience of the Indigenous individual and family, through programs and services that are grounded in reclaiming interconnectedness, reconciliation of relationships, and self-determination.
National Centre for Truth & Reconciliation - A place of learning and dialogue where the truths of the residential school experience will be honoured and kept safe for future generations.
Commit to learning more about Truth and Reconciliation
The University of Alberta offers a free online course through the Faculty of Native Studies called Indigenous Canada. This 12-lesson Open Online Course explores the different histories and contemporary perspectives of Indigenous peoples living in Canada. From an Indigenous perspective, the course explores complex experiences Indigenous peoples face today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations.
All are welcome to register and work at your own pace, free of charge.
Additional City-Wide Events
