Many events are scheduled across Metro Vancouver on Tuesday (September 30) to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This federal statutory holiday honours the thousands of children who never returned home from residential schools, as well as survivors, family members, and communities.
The Canadian government created the Indian residential school system in the 19th century to accelerate the assimilation of Indigenous people by stripping them of their language and prohibiting cultural practices in these institutions, which were run by Christian religious organizations. National Day for Truth and Reconciliation coincides with Orange Shirt Day, which offers a reminder that Every Child Matters. Below, you can see some events taking place.
2025 Intergenerational March to Commemorate Orange Shirt Day
The UBC faculties of land and food systems and forestry are hosting this event, which takes place at various locations around the UBC Vancouver Campus. Starting at the outdoor amphitheatre below the clock tower at 1956 Main Mall at noon, the event will open with a message from a Musqueam Elder followed by a drum group performance and a speech by Squamish Nation member Sam George, who survived the St. Pau’s Residential School.
There will also be a performance at that location by Aileen Michel (L’il Bear) and Mitchell Tourangeau prior to the march south across the campus. At Thunderbird Commons Field, activist Stephanie Holmes will speak. Her dad, John Jones, survived the Alberni Residential School. The event concludes with a performance of Frances Koncan’s acclaimed play Women of the Fur Trade at 4 p.m. at the Frederic Wood Theatre.
Empowering Voices Through Art
Kwakiutl Nation artist and educator Christine Mackenzie will team up with Anishinaabe Ojibwe Two-Spirit and transgender artist Red Buffalow Nova Weipert to offer two free workshops at Place Des Arts (1120 Brunette Avenue) in Coquitlam. They focus on building a better community through art with Indigenous artists, and begin at 1 and 3 p.m.
Truth & Reconciliation Day
From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Museum & Archives of North Vancouver (115 West Esplanade Avenue) will host a day of cultural experiences and reflection for people of all ages. It’s offered on a pay-what-you-can basis and will include gallery tours. One component is entitled Stories& Legends, with presentations at 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:45 p.m., and 4 p.m. In addition, the family-friendly stations will offer opportunities to learn about rock decorating, wool weaving, and making beaded keychains. Kids can also gather at a colouring table or in a reading corner, as well as check out a Community Orange T-shirt Wall.
The Museum & Archives of North Vancouver invites the community to a day of reflection, learning and connection. Led by MONOVA’s Indigenous Cultural Programmers, Jordan Dawson and Tsawaysia Spukwus, visitors can join activities such as orange rock decorating, keychain making, wool weaving, and a specially created scavenger hunt. The event also features Indigenous-led gallery tours and a Conversation Station. Drop-ins are welcome.
Watch the official music video for “Our Home” by Curtis Clearsky and the Constellationz.
Honouring the Past, Healing the Present, Inspiring the Future
Curtis Clearsky & the Constellationz will headline this free event in Grandview Park (1657 Charles Street and Commercial Drive) in East Vancouver. At 10 a.m., people will gather for an Honour Walk from the Vancouver Aboriginal Community Policing Centre (1719 Franklin Street) to the park. The cultural and music performances, as well as an Indigenous Market and Sacred Fire, start at noon and run until 3 p.m.
Cedar Weaving with Todd DeVries
There is a cedar-weaving revival taking place in Coast Salish Territories. That’s notwithstanding a shortage of this precious bark that must be converted into strips suitable for weaving. From 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Haida Artist and weaver Todd DeVries will lead a hands-on workshop to create a cedar heart to symbolize that Every Child Matters. Then from 1 to 3 p.m., he will teach participants to create a cedar bracelet representing non-violence and anti-bullying. It all takes place at the Trout Lake Community Centre with all proceeds supporting the Indian Residential School Survivors Society.
Orange Shirt Day
Templeton Indigenous Welcome Garden (700 Templeton Drive) in East Vancouver will host a free event with drumming, earth art, and music. It runs from 2 to 5 p.m.
Walking Together: Truth & Reconciliation Day at BVM
The Burnaby Village Museum has a full schedule of sessions from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It includes a cedar-weaving workshop led by Musqueam weaver and natural dyer Rita Point Kompst, a myth-busting workshop on colonization, and discussions on Coast Salish language preservation. The museum will also offer a reconciliation-focused documentary screening in the Central Park theatre, as well as other events. Each workshop lasts 30 minutes.
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in New Westminster
From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., survivors and their families will be honoured at Queen’s Park South Field. Metro Vancouver-based Cree teacher, Nehiyaw Elder, and residential school survivor Dorothy Visser will be leading as Head Woman, with William Visser as Head Man. She and her son do powwow dancing, storytelling, and sing in Cree. The event also includes drumming and dancing by Buffalo Thunder Group.
In an interview with IndigiNews in 2022, Visser said that she was born on the Saddle Creek First Nations but lost her status when she married her husband. She only recovered her status with the passage of federal legislation in 1985.
Indigenous Short Films Screening
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Brighouse Library in Richmond will screen several short films by Indigenous creators. They include “My Friend the Green Horse” (Indigenous Cinema, 2024, 11 mins), “Woodland Spirits” (Documentary, 2007, 27 mins), and the animated “Now is the Time” ( 2019, 16 mins), which will play continuously on a loop.
Watch the trailer for The Good Canadian.
The Good Canadian
Those who are homebound due to caregiving responsibilities or a disability can take in a wide variety of TV programming on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. One of the highlights will be The Good Canadian, an 88-minute documentary premiering at 8 p.m. on CBC and CBC Gem, and 9 p.m. on APTN.
Directed by Leena Minifie (Gitxaala/British) and settler David Paperny, this film exposes historically racist policies that laid a foundation for continued discriminatory practices against Indigenous people today. This is accomplished through interviews with people who’ve worked in systems that perpetuate socioeconomic equalities.
For example, The Good Canadian opens people’s eyes to the huge number of Indigenous kids still being apprehended by the state. The film also addresses Indigenous overrepresentation in the correctional system. As well, it focuses on challenges facing Indigenous students in the educational system.
One of the speakers is Gitxsan activist for child welfare Cindy Blackstock. Currently executive director of First Nations Child & Family Caring Society, Blackstock played an instrumental role in a legal case that led the federal government to pay $23.34 billion to Indigenous people for discriminatory child-welfare practices. In addition, Ottawa will spend another $20 billion reforming on-reserve child welfare and family services to prevent future discrimination.
“The moments the headlines die, the children do, too,” Blackstock says in The Good Canadian trailer. “What Canadians need to do is not turn the page.”
The Canadian Media Producers Association has called the documentary “meticulously researched and artfully crafted”.
“The Good Canadian fills the gap of documenting apartheid in our own country the way that other countries have,” Minifie says in the news release. “We crafted a team that brought broad, differing perspectives and developed strong, trusting relationships with the participants who revealed the bitter truths of their own experiences.”
Paperny received an Oscar nomination in 1994 for The Broadcast Tapes of Dr. Peter, and has since gone on to produce many TV series and TV movies. In the news release, he stated that Blackstock set him on a journey to make The Good Canadian. This came after she asked what he would tell his granddaughters when they inquired about what he did when newborn babies in Canada were being taken from their mothers.
Follow Pancouver on X @PancouverMedia and Bluesky @pancouver.bsky.social. Pancouver is also on Instagram @PancouverMedia.
