National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Thursday, September 30, 2021 marked the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The day honours the lost children and Survivors of residential schools, their families and their communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is an essential component of the reconciliation process.

Orange Shirt Day is also observed on this day. This is an Indigenous-led grassroots commemorative day that honours children who survived Indian Residential Schools and remembers those who did not. It stems from the experience of Phyllis Webstad, a Northern Secwpemc (Shuswap) from the Stswecem'c Xgat'tem First Nation, on her first day of school, where she arrived dressed in a new orange shirt, which was taken from her. It is now a symbol of the stripping away of culture, freedom and self-esteem experienced by Indigenous children over generations. The wearing of orange on September 30 of each year raises awareness of the very tragic legacy of residential schools, and honours the thousands of Survivors.

As former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson intimated in her address to the Canadian Ismaili Muslim community on Friday Night Reflections earlier this year, understanding the history of indigenous peoples and the plight of those who have experienced oppression and subjugation in our country is the responsibillity of all Canadians. As citizens and residents, we have a collective duty to learn about our country's past and to help ensure, as we look to the future, that the values of justice, human dignity and compassion are upheld for all. Indeed, these are principles that lie at the core of our Muslim faith, one which reminds us of our duty to know one another (Qur'an 49.13) and to embrace our common humanity.

That however, will only be possible if each of us takes seriously our commitment to advance a culture of tolerance and a pluralistic ethic. In the 2015 Annual Pluralism Lecture of the Global Centre for Pluralism, The Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, reminded us that the most glaring blemish on Canada's historic record has been the treatment of its First Nations, amounting to a cultural genocide. She notes that while we may now understand that historical policies of exclusion, cultural annihilation and assimilation were deeply flawed, our success at inculcating a spirit of tolerance in this country must be grounded, in part, in a respect for the innate human dignity of each person and a commitment to cultivate and sustain inclusive institutions and attitudes. She quotes Mawlana Hazar Imam as saying "There is a profound reciprocal relationship between institutional and cultural variables. How we think shapes our institutions. And then our institutions shape us."

As we commemorate this first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, let us renew our committment to understanding the injustices of our country's past, and redouble our efforts to uphold the values we fiercely embrace as Canadians and Ismaili Muslims - respect for difference, humility when encountering the other, equity, and compassion for the vulnerable. In this way, let us be the beacon of the light for others that Canada once was, and continues to be every day, for us. 

Read more at National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.