September 30 is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. It is a day to memorialize the children lost to residential schools, and to honour the survivors, ancestors and communities still impacted by the history of residential schools. The last residential school in Canada closed in 1996, and the effects of that system and colonialism are still deeply felt today.
On Saturday, September 30, at 1:00pm, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, with APTN, will broadcast the annual “Remembering the Children” gathering on Parliament Hill, on the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation. You can join the gathering, virtually, here: https://www.aptntv.ca/ndtr/rtc/.
AFHTO honours the children who never came home, the survivors of residential schools, and their ancestors and communities. AFHTO is committed to honouring the principles of truth and reconciliation and is committed to working in concert with Indigenous and non-Indigenous providers in the healthcare system to ensure health services and supports are delivered in manners that are culturally appropriate, comfortable, respectful, and inclusive. We are deeply committed to ensuring that Indigenous families and communities are served and supported in the manners that best support them.
AFHTO acknowledges that we are on the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. We also acknowledge that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the Williams Treaties signed with multiple Mississaugas and Chippewa bands.