National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Each year, September 30 marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
The day honours the children who never returned home and Survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process.
Below you’ll find links to resources for further opportunities to learn more. Please note, some of these resources may include content that is upsetting or triggering. Please take care.
TRC Resources and Survivor Stories
- Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action
- Research and Reports
- Residential School Timeline
- Legacy of Hope: Survivor Stories
Syilx Experience
- Syilx Residential School Experience
- Syilx Nation Open Letter for the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, 2021
- Letter to Wilfred Laurier from the Chiefs of the Shuswap, Okanagan, Couteau Tribes of British Columbia, 1910
- Okanagan Nation Alliance timeline
- Syilx Okanagan culture PowerPoint (SD22)
- MAV Indigenous photographs
- Please note, we would like to acknowledge a lack of subject identification among Indigenous photos in the collection of the Museum & Archives of Vernon. Some photos may also contain content that is upsetting or triggering. Please take care.
Readings Lists
- List of books by syilx and other Indigenous others
- Stories for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (ORL)
- Okanagan Nation Alliance publications
- Theytus Books publications
Maps and StoryMaps
- Treaties and Agreements in Canada Story Map
- First People’s Map of BC
- Guide to Acknowledging First Peoples and Traditional Territory
Apps, Podcasts, and Cinema
- Reconciliation: A Starting Point mobile app
- Residential Schools podcast
- National Film Board Indigenous Cinema
- On Canada: Settlers Take Action project
Language and Ontologies
- Syilx Language House
- First Voices language portal (nsyilxcən)
- First Nations, Metis, and Inuit Ontology
Local Resources
- Sncewips Heritage Museum (Indigenous-led and directed syilx history museum)
- North Okanagan community resource guide, including crisis and help lines, housing, groceries, and financial aid (SD22)
- Indiginews