National Day for Truth and Reconciliation: Working towards reconciliation by understanding the past

Harmful content

We understand that archives can be painful for Indigenous people. Reading old records about genocide, assimilation and oppression, with biased and hurtful language, can cause distress and harm.

To read more or find support, see the notice about harmful content in LAC’s collection.

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a day to mark the history of the residential school system and its ongoing impacts on Indigenous Peoples in Canada.

Each year on September 30, we honour Survivors and the children who never returned home, their families and their communities. It is an opportunity for Canadians to learn about the lasting negative impacts residential schools have left on generations of First Nations, Inuit and Métis.

This date aligns with Orange Shirt Day, a grassroots, Indigenous-led initiative that raises awareness of the inter-generational impacts of residential schools and the concept of "Every Child Matters”.

To highlight this important day, Library and Archives Canada’s (LAC) Preservation Centre and Preservation Storage Facility in Gatineau will be illuminated in orange on September 30 from sunset to 11:00 p.m.

On September 30, LAC, in partnership with the Ottawa Public Library and the Ottawa International Writers Festival, will present an evening with critically acclaimed and award-winning Anishinaabe author Tanya Talaga for the launch of her new book, The Knowing. Find out more about the event.

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation provides an opportunity to remember history. Knowing and acknowledging the past and its continuing impacts are the first steps towards healing and reconciliation. LAC preserves stories of First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation from across Canada. Providing access to more diverse historical documents will allow us to work towards healing the harms of the past, with hopes of forging a better future.

To learn more about Indigenous Peoples and our past, here are some of LAC’s initiatives and resources available for all Canadians:

  • The Day Schools Project supports ongoing work towards reconciliation through digitizing and providing culturally sensitive descriptions for up to six million pages of government records relating to Federal Indian Day School Systems and their legacy.
  • We Are Here: Sharing Stories is an initiative to digitize and describe Indigenous-related collection items in our holdings. It has surpassed its goal of digitizing 450,000 images of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Nation content, such as rare books, photographs, textual documents, maps and microfilms.
  • Listen, Hear Our Voices supports the digitization and access to Indigenous documentary heritage. It has provided funding to support 51 projects totaling $3 million in contributions since 2022.
  • Project Naming is a photo identification and community engagement initiative. Now in its 22nd year, members of the public are invited to identify the people, places and events in photographs held at LAC related to First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation.
  • Nations to Nations: Indigenous Voices at Library and Archives Canada features 28 essays written by First Nations, Inuit and Métis staff at LAC. Watch the panel discussion with three of its authors for the Frankfurt Book Fair.
  • LAC’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission web archive allows access to archived websites of organizations connected with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
  • The latest acquisition of material by Teyoninhokarawen (John Norton), including an unpublished journal and accompanying letters, offers exciting opportunities for research into his life, as well as into the history of the Haudenosaunee and Canada.
  • The Indigenous Peoples Flickr album collection reflects the Indigenous documentary heritage found in the holdings of LAC.

LAC acknowledges that many records related to First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in the collections lack important contextual information. As outlined in Vision 2030: A strategic plan to 2030, LAC is doing more to place collections in context, making them easier to understand by setting them in a wider historical and cultural landscape. Reconciliation will not be accomplished overnight and is a journey that requires commitment from all people in Canada.

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