Local Events to Commemorate 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.
Learn more about local events and activities taking place around Metro Vancouver that commemorate the history and legacy of residential schools, create productive and meaningful dialogue, educate, and amplify Indigenous voices.
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at MONOVA
Location: MONOVA: Museum of North Vancouver
Date: September 30, 2022
Event Time: 10am – 5pm
Cost: Admission to MONOVA is free for those who self-identify as Indigenous. Admission to the Museum’s Community Spaces will also be free. (Gallery admission not included.)
Event Details
MONOVA invites you to share your thoughts and reflections about Truth and Reconciliation on paper orange shirts. These “Community Voices” will be publicly displayed until October 2022 as part of MONOVA’s Truth and Reconciliation Day activities.
On Truth and Reconciliation Day, join Siamtnaat & Milnitdi (Sheryl Rivers) from Squamish Nation as she shares stories, songs and the history of the Squamish Peoples.
MONOVA will also be showing short films that look at the history of residential schools in Canada, the resilience of Indigenous communities, and how we as a country can move towards healing.
Photo credit: MONVOA.
Indigenous Cultural Programmer Tsawaysia Spukwus with Guest Services representatives Ling-Wei Yu and Kenny Muir.
Photo: MONOVA Staff
On Truth and Reconciliation: Indigenous artist James Harry discusses his project with SOS Village
Organizer: Griffin Art Projects
Date: September 30, 2022 (Online Event)
Event Time: 1pm – 2:30pm
Cost: Free
Event Details
Join the most recent awardee of GRIFFIN’S Indigenous Studio Award, artist James Harry, for a talk about his most recent piece for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in collaboration with SOS Children’s Village BC. The talk will follow a Q&A led by Indigenous curatorial assistant, Emmett Hanly.
Photo credit: Xwemelch’stn (2019) – Aluminum, Polycarbonate, LED lighting
Pilgrimage to Commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Organizer: Tsleil-Waututh Nation
Location: St. Thomas Aquinas Regional Secondary School (North Vancouver)
Date: September 30, 2022
Event Time: 10am – 1pm
Cost: Free
Event Details
Join the Tsleil-Waututh Community as they take part in a Pilgrimage from the former site of St. Paul’s Residential School to the Tsleil-Waututh Nation reserve to honour Tsleil-Waututh residential and day school survivors.
The healing walk will take place from 10 am to 1 pm on September 30th, and the public is invited to create a wall of protection and support by lining up on the sidewalks along Main St./Cotton Drive at Park and Tilford or 3rd Street W. from St. Andrews Ave. to Chesterfield Ave in North Vancouver.
Learn more about how to support Tsleil-Waututh Nation Day School and Residential School Survivors by visiting www.twnation.ca/how-to-support-twn.
Squamish Lil’Wat Cultural Centre: Free Admission
Location: Squamish Lil’Wat Cultural Centre (Squamish)
Date: September 30 – October 2, 2022
Event Time: 10am – 5pm
Cost: Free
Event Details
Join the for a weekend of reflection and learning. Thanks to the generous support from Proud Partner CIBC, the Fairmont Chateau Whistler and the Resort Municipality of Whistler, the SLCC will be free admission all weekend, September 30 – October 2. For full programming details on September 30th, visit www.slcc.ca/ndtr-at-the-slcc.
Photo credit: Squamish Lil’Wat Cultural Centre
At the Centre of Community: An Exhibition of Indigenous Cultural Practices
Organizer: Vancouver Park Board
Location: Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre, Roundhouse Exhibition Hall (Vancouver)
Date: September 23 – October 1, 2022
Event Time: 9am – 9:30pm
Cost: Free
Event Details
A free exhibition and series of events in celebration of xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, Coast Salish and Urban Indigenous artists working in the community.
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at Westminster Pier Park
Organizer: Spirit of the Children Society
Location: Westminster Pier Park (New Westminster)
Date: September 30, 2022
Event Time: 3pm – 6pm
Cost: Free
Event Details
Spirit of the Children Society will host a pipe ceremony at Westminster Pier Park to honour the lost children and survivors of residential schools, their families and communities. Please wear your orange shirt. All ages are welcome to this free family event.
Jeanette Kotowich: Kisiskâciwan
Organizer: The Dance Centre
Location: Scotiabank Dance Centre (Vancouver)
Date: September 30 – October 1, 2022
Event Time: 8pm
Tickets: $34/$25 students & seniors
Event Details
Originally from Treaty 4 territory Saskatchewan, Jeanette Kotowich is an independent dance artist and choreographer of Nêhiyaw, Métis and mixed settler ancestry. Her work reflects Nêhiyaw/Métis cosmology within the context of contemporary dance performance, referencing protocol, ritual, our relationship to the natural and Spirit world, and ancestral knowledge. Kisiskâciwan is a creative return to the swift-flowing landscape of Saskatchewan, the robust undulating land of her grandmothers’ mothers and great-great-grandfathers.
Learn more about the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Learn more about Orange Shirt Day, an Indigenous-led grassroots commemorative day intended to raise awareness of the individual, family and community inter-generational impacts of residential schools, and to promote the concept of “Every Child Matters”.
Learn more about Indigenous Activities and Experiences on the North Shore.
We gratefully acknowledge that the land on which we gather is the unceded and traditional territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Nation, and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nation.