From the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney
Posted on this National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, September 30th, 2025 on Niagara At Large
“Reconciliation is a generational task, lived and practised every day. On this National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day, we honour Survivors and the children who never returned home – and we reflect on the devastating legacy and the ongoing impacts of the residential school system.
Residential schools are a truth that Survivors carried when governments would not. A truth recounted more than 6,600 times before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, so governments could no longer say ‘we did not know’.
During this long and painful chapter in our history, more than 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children were separated from their families, communities, languages, and cultures.
As a government and as a people, we match remembrance with responsibility.
The federal government is moving forward on the important work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, including supporting Indigenous communities to uncover unmarked and undocumented graves and burial sites at residential schools.
We are advancing the Calls for Justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.
We are building together – in health care, housing, education, and economic opportunity – upholding Indigenous rights and empowering communities with security and prosperity.
Canada’s new government will be a steadfast partner by respecting self-determination, by prioritising Indigenous equity and co-ownership as vital principles of building, and by recognising that true partnership first requires shared understanding and that building Canada requires Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices to lead in the shared stewardship of this land.
Because it is vital that we build, but equally vital how we build – with Indigenous leadership, prosperity, and opportunity being foundational. Reconciliation is a generational task – lived and practised every day.
We pledge to build a future where Survivors are honoured with remembrance, with justice, and with a stronger Canada.”
For more information: The 24-hour safe and confidential National Residential School Crisis Line, available at 1-866-925-4419, provides crisis referral services to Survivors and their families and explains how to obtain other health supports from the Government of Canada.
The Hope for Wellness Help Line provides immediate, toll-free telephone and online chat-based emotional support and crisis intervention to all Indigenous people in Canada. Both telephone and online chat services are available 24/7 in English and French. Telephone support is also available upon request in Cree, Ojibway, and Inuktitut. Trained counsellors are available at 1‑855‑242‑3310 or via hopeforwellness.ca.
A Message from Ontario’s Niagara Parks Commission
Niagara Falls to be Illuminated Orange in Honour of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Niagara Falls, ON – To commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and to honour the survivors of the residential school system, their families and communities, the Niagara Falls Illumination Board will illuminate the Canadian Horseshoe Falls in orange.
The illumination will be on Tuesday, September 30 at the top of every hour for 15 minutes starting at 6 p.m.
The Horseshoe Falls in orange light. file photo from a previous Truth and Reconcilliation Day, courtesy of Niagara Parks
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