A Day to Reflect: MPP Mamakwa urges government to support Bill on Truth and Reconciliation

QUEEN’S PARK - The NDP critic for Indigenous and Treaty Relations and Deputy Leader Sol Mamakwa is calling on the Ford government to designate September 30 as the Day of Reflection on Indian Residential Schools and to make it a statutory day. This would require amending three pieces of legislation, the Employment Standards Act, 2000, the Legislation Act, 2006, and the Retail Business Holidays Act.

“The work of Truth and Reconciliation cannot fall on Indigenous people alone as it has for too long,” said Mamakwa. “It is past time for non-Indigenous people living on this land to step up, face the truth, and do the necessary work to seek justice and healing on the path to reconciliation. Creating a statutory Day of Reflection on Indian Residential Schools on September 30 of each year will offer an annual reminder and opportunity for the collective action required of non-Indigenous people in Ontario each and every day.”

This would be an important step in the journey toward truth, healing and reconciliation, and would be an opportunity to realize the intention of TRC Call to Action #80 within the provincial context. Call #80 recommends establishing:

“As a statutory holiday, a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to honour Survivors, their families, and communities, and ensure that public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process.”

“Over the past few months, I have spoken with many Survivors and First Nations leaders about this idea, and I have received a strong show of support. I will be debating this Bill today knowing that Survivors are behind me and the impact will be meaningful.”

He also issued a message directly to the Premier and Cabinet: “To Premier Ford and this Government, I am asking you to support this Bill – not just today, but all the way through third reading and Royal Assent. With an election coming, we don’t have to let this Bill die in Committee or on the Order Paper. Let’s pass this Bill before the next provincial election, so it can be part of our legacy as the 43rd Parliament of Ontario.”

Quick Facts:

• There are 139 Indian Residential Schools recognized as having operated in Canada with government support, with 18 of these in Ontario. The last of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools closed in 1996.
• Around 150,000 Indigenous children attended these Indian Residential Schools for over 150 years. It is estimated that 15,000 children died at the Indian Residential Schools, and some believe the true number is much higher.
• The Truth and Reconciliation Commissioners, Justice Murray Sinclair, Wilton Littlechild and Marie Wilson heard from 6,000 Survivors and witnesses across the country, and the Commission culminated in the release of 94 Calls to Action in 2015.