National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

September 30 is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This federal statutory holiday was created in response to Call to Action 80, honouring the Survivors, their families, communities, and those affected by residential schools. We acknowledge that systemic discrimination and trauma are continually present in the lives of Indigenous Peoples. The Edmonton Humane Society’s Administrative offices will be closed on Monday, October 2 in observance of this day.

As an organization, we have been reflecting and learning about the important history and path forward for truth and reconciliation in Canada, and we encourage our supporters to do the same with the below resources:

1. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action
2. Calls to Action Accountability: A 2021 Status Update on Reconciliation by the Yellowhead Institute
3. Beyond 94 by CBC – a website that monitors the progress on the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions’ 94 Calls to Action
4. Indigenous Canada – a 12-lesson Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) offered by the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta
5. Aboriginal Worldviews and Education – online course offered by the University of Toronto
6. Read for Reconciliation Book List by Raven Reads

Local organizations to consider volunteering or supporting:

• Creating Hope Society of Alberta
• Bent Arrow
• Canadian Native Friendship Centre

Events to participate in:

• Orange Shirt Day Run/Walk Register Here
• Panel Discussion: Indigenous Perspectives on the Pope’s Apology with the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund
• Indigenous Events presented by the Edmonton Public Library
• Virtual Tour of the Former Mohawk Institute Residential School from Woodland Cultural Centre

Interactive maps:

• Residential School Map – CBC
• Native Land – Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages
• Original Voices – CBC Indigenous
• Indigenous Place Names in Canada

Land Acknowledgement 

The Edmonton Humane Society respectfully honours that we are situated upon Treaty 6 territory and the traditional Lands of many diverse groups of Indigenous peoples such as the nêhiyaw (Nay-hee-yow) / Cree, Dené (Deh-neyh), Anishinaabe (Ah-nish-in-ah-bay) / Saulteaux (So-toe), Niitsitapi (Nit-si-tahp-ee) / Blackfoot, Nakota Isga (Na-koh-tah ee-ska) / Nakota Sioux (Na-koh-tah sue), Métis’ (May-tee) and Inuit (I-nuit) ancestors and families.

It is with gratitude that we honour and respect this territory on which we live, work and support community, and the Peoples who for millennia have passed on their history, languages, ceremonies and culture from one generation to the next. As an animal welfare organization, we are particularly inspired by Indigenous environmental stewardship and the spiritual significance of human-animal relationships within Indigenous cultures.