NATIONAL ABORIGINAL DAY
Celebrating the contributions of natives would help in reconciliation
“We have described for you a mountain. We have shown you the path to the top. We call upon you to do the climbing.”
Justice Murray Sinclair’s words on the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report resonate deeply for our organization. We are committed to achieving a just and inclusive society that honours the contributions of all communities and encourages active civic engagement.
The TRC report documents the experiences of residential school survivors and their families, what Sinclair has called “one of the darkest, most troubling chapters in our collective history.” Colonization has subjected the First Peoples of this land to deliberate and repeated acts of cultural genocide. First Nations, Métis and Inuit people continue to be excluded and marginalized and devastatingly affected by intergenerational trauma.
The many individuals and communities that had the courage to share their experiences of residential schools are to be commended. Our collective responsibility is to honour that courage and to act on what has been learned by the TRC process.
The TRC’s Calls to Action set out a blueprint for governments, organizations and individuals to start making the difficult climb to scale the mountain. Our organization has undertaken an analysis of these recommendations to establish a framework for the continued indigenization of our agency that will inform our operations and guide our work with community as an ally in the struggle for reconciliation.
Since 2013 we have been privileged to work with members of the Aboriginal community toward a goal of improving access to justice. That year we established YÉN: TENE (Mohawk for “you and I will go there together”) and embarked on a collaborative journey to build relationships of respect and trust. We are committed to providing culturally respectful and appropriate services, which requires a comprehensive understanding of history as well as the current realities faced by members of the Aboriginal community. Members of the board of directors and staff have demonstrated a genuine conviction to continue learning and to supporting the climb.
On May 24, 2016 the board took a bold step in this journey; it unanimously voted to close the office to celebrate National Aboriginal Day starting June 21 this year.
The call for NAD began in 1982 by the National Indian Brotherhood, now the Assembly of First Nations. In 1995 the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples recommended the designation of a National First Peoples Day. The same year, the Sacred Assembly, a national conference of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people chaired by Elijah Harper, called for a national holiday to celebrate the contributions of Aboriginal peoples. National Aboriginal Day was proclaimed by then-governor general Roméo LeBlanc on June 13, 1996.
It was not proclaimed as a holiday in 1996, but as a day for all Canadians to recognize and celebrate the unique heritage, diverse cultures and outstanding contributions of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples to Canada and the world. June 21 was chosen because many Aboriginal peoples and communities have celebrated their culture and heritage on or near this day due to the significance of the summer solstice as the longest day of the year.
The designation of NAD provides the occasion to highlight the richness of Aboriginal culture and history and focus on the positive, rather than what so frequently catches media attention and fuels stereotypes, such as poverty and high rates of high school drop outs, suicide and incarceration. National Aboriginal Day is an opportunity to expand awareness and promote inclusion.
The decision of our board to make NAD a holiday for staff is a reflection of our organizational values and demonstrates our commitment to reconciliAC-TION (to borrow a social media term that refers to concrete actions to achieve reconciliation). We recognize that we are not unique in our convictions and that there is a growing national awareness and respect in the non-Aboriginal community.
The significance of the issues facing First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples and the complexity of addressing them underscore the merit of NAD being declared a Canadian holiday. This is far more than just a symbolic gesture; this would be a public declaration of a collective undertaking to persevere in the climb until we reach the summit together.
We urge our federal government to act on the call to make National Aboriginal Day a statutory holiday. In the meantime, we encourage all employers to declare June 21 a holiday for their workplaces.