September 30, 2026
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a statutory holiday for employees in the federal government and federally regulated workplaces in Canada on September 30.
The day is intended to educate and remind Canadians about the history of residential schools, honour the victims and celebrate the survivors.
The objective is to create a chance for Canadians to learn about and reflect on a dark chapter in their country’s history and to commemorate the survivors, their families and their communities, as called for by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Indigenous leaders.
Over the course of more than 100 years, some 150,000 Indigenous children were ripped from their families and forced to attend church-run residential schools, where many suffered physical and sexual abuse, malnutrition and neglect. More than 4,000 are believed to have died.
The use of an orange shirt as a symbol was inspired by the accounts of Phyllis Jack Webstad, whose personal clothing—including a new orange shirt—was taken from her during her first day of residential schooling, and never returned. The orange shirt is thus used as a symbol of the forced assimilation of Indigenous children that the residential school system enforced.
