Message from Ombudsman Addo marking the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Today, on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we recognize the history and legacy of residential schools. Also known as Orange Shirt Day, it is a time to honour the Survivors, their families and communities, and to remember the children who never came home.

Orange Shirt Day was started by Phyllis (Jack) Webstad, a Northern Secwpemc (Shuswap) author and activist from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation (Canoe Creek Indian Band) and a Survivor of the St. Joseph Mission Residential School in British Columbia. On her first day of residential school, the new orange shirt given by her grandmother was taken from her and never returned. We now know that residential schools operated in Canada for more than 150 years, with the last one closing in the 1990s. More than 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children were taken from their families, stripped of their languages and cultures and subjected to trauma that still reverberates across generations.

My team and I at Ombudsman Toronto are committed to ongoing education about the history, harm and intergenerational trauma caused by colonization in line with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 57.

We know we have more work to do to better serve Indigenous Peoples in Toronto. We commit to this work today and for the long-term. Our office exists within a colonial system and with that recognition comes a duty to reflect on how these structures continue to exclude and harm Indigenous Peoples. We reaffirm our commitment to meaningfully integrate the principles of reconciliation into all aspects of our work. This means learning from Indigenous knowledge and experience and changing how we understand fairness and accountability in the context of this colonial history.

We are working with an Indigenous facilitator to co-create a dedicated approach to engaging with and addressing self-identified issues from Indigenous Peoples, respecting their sovereignty, self-determination and self-governance. Our goal is that Indigenous Peoples know about our office, feel safe contacting us and trust that they’ll receive culturally appropriate service and experience effective outcomes when working with us.

We pledge to keep listening, unlearning and holding ourselves accountable in the way that we operate.