Lieutenant Governor of ON: Statement by the Lieutenant Governor on the Inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Today marks the inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, fulfilling the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s call to action #80.

Many of us across the province will be looking for ways to honour this day of remembrance and reflection.

Let us begin by extending our hands and ensuring that Indigenous and non-Indigenous people are able to come together in peace and goodwill. Let us seek opportunities to learn, through friendship centres, online resources, or conversations with friends and neighbours. Let us choose to act to end discrimination, to value the knowledge and stories of Indigenous people, and to recognize the pain caused by ignorance and prejudice.

As Lieutenant Governor, I have been welcomed warmly with generosity, and experienced vulnerable honesty, in meetings and visits with many Indigenous people during my term. I hold in high esteem the friendships earned and made with those young and old. Their resilience and courage inspire me to broaden the meaning of kinship and further my own work on reconciliation as the representative of Her Majesty The Queen in Ontario and on behalf of all who live here.

– The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario

Learn more about call to action #80: We call upon the federal government, in collaboration with Aboriginal peoples, to establish, as a statutory holiday, a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to honour Survivors, their families, and communities, and ensure that public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process.

Learn more about Orange Shirt Day

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