Indigenous leaders want corporate reconciliation efforts to extend beyond Sept. 30

Chelsee Pettit spent much of the summer collaborating with designers to create and manufacture apparel reflective of the Indigenous values she hoped would be on people’s minds when Canada marks its second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

But in the days leading up to Sept. 30, she noticed many companies had not had the same forethought and were scrambling to place bulk orders with her store, Aaniin.

“It’s just a little funny how lastminute other organizations that are all non-Indigenous are, and they’re pushing that (work) back onto Indigenous people,” said Pettit, an Anishinaabe woman.

“We’re not like big box stores that just have disposable T-shirts and are at everybody’s beck and call. Working with us ahead of time as opposed to just laying it on us a week before the day, I think would be super helpful.”

Pettit has tried her best to accommodate last-minute orders, but she and other members of the Indigenous business community see the trend as a sign of how much more work corporate Canada has to do to turn support for Indigenous communities into a 365-day-ayear effort.

While many businesses encourage staff to don orange shirts — a tradition started by residential school survivor Phyllis Webstad in 2013 — or to sell wares in the bright hue on Sept. 30, those efforts quickly fade. Companies often don’t do much more to elevate Indigenous voices and causes.

“It is positive that we are seeing education happen and awareness-building happen, but it can be quite triggering and harmful for Indigenous Peoples who see it as one day of performative action and nothing throughout the rest of the year,” said Tabatha Bull, president and chief executive of the Canadian Council for

Aboriginal Business.

Bull and Pettit say if an employer is looking to make a mark on truth and reconciliation goals, they should also be doing that work all year round.