National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day

September 25 2025

Content Warning: This article contains mentions of anti-Indigenous racism, genocide, and abuse. If you need support, The Hope for Wellness Helpline is available for Indigenous peoples in multiple languages via chat or by phone at 1-855-242-3310.

Over centuries, the history of what is now called Canada is marked by injustices and harms against Indigenous peoples, lands, territories, languages, and cultures. Indigenous resilience led to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission whose work included advancing the process of Canadian reconciliation through the Calls to Action. To partially respond to The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action #80, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation—to be commemorated on Tuesday, September 30, 2025—was established by the federal government in 2021.

Orange Shirt Day, a grassroots Indigenous-led commemorative day to raise awareness of the harms caused by the residential school system, is also observed on September 30^th. The motto of Orange Shirt Day is “Every Child Matters”. This refers not only to the children murdered by the Residential School System, but also the survivors who walk alongside us today and the Indigenous communities that live with the intergenerational trauma resulting from colonization and genocide.

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) encourages its members, its staff, and the public to learn about the historical and ongoing harms perpetrated against Indigenous peoples, choose the Calls to Action most relevant to them, and commit to take action to address these injustices. We all have a role to play in our families, workplaces, unions, and communities to move meaningful reconciliation forward.

Learn more about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission reports, including the Calls to Action.

Learn more about the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s Memorial Registrar.