This Monday, Sept. 30 is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (NDTR), a federal statutory holiday and day of remembrance for the Indigenous children who never came home from Canadian residential schools, as well as those who survived them.
A number of businesses and public services are expected to close. Here’s what to know about what is open this Monday:
Government services
As a federal statutory holiday, NDTR will see closures of government buildings, including Service Canada locations and passport offices. Parliament Hill will also be closed to visitors.
As for provincial services, some governments, including British Columbia and Nova Scotia, observe the statutory holiday, though others, including Ontario and Saskatchewan, do not. Check with your province or territory’s government website, or call ahead, if you plan to stop into your local service centre.
The same is true for municipal government offices, which may take cues from the federal, or its provincial or territorial statutory holiday schedule. It’s best to check ahead of time.
Schools
Policies vary on whether schools will be closed this Monday.
Edmonton schools, for example, list “no classes” for Sept. 30-Oct. 1 this year, while Ontario’s provincial government does not include NDTR on its 2024/2025 holiday calendar.
Be sure to check with your local school board.
Banks
The following major banks list the NDTR on their holiday closure schedules, though online and telephone banking, as well as ATMs, may still be available:
· BMO
· TD Bank
· CIBC
Postal services
In observance of the NDTR, some postal services will be unavailable on Monday, including Canada Post, which will halt collection and delivery of mail and Purolator, which is expected to halt its services.
According to FedEx‘s calendar, ground shipping will continue on Monday in regions including southern Alberta, the B.C. interior, Vancouver Island and Montreal, though express and freight shipping will stop for the day.
Private businesses
It’s up to the owners of private grocery and retail stores, restaurants, professional services and other businesses whether to remain open on NDTR, though they may take cues from their province or territory’s statutory holiday schedule.
What is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation?
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is an annual observance to honour those impacted by Canada’s residential schools.
The residential school system, which spanned more than a century until shortly before the turn of the millennium, forcibly removed Indigenous children from their homes and families and placed them in federally run schools across the country.
As described in detail in reports from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, children held at residential schools were subject to systematic racism that sought to erase their cultural practices, language and identity. Experiences of emotional, physical and sexual abuse appear frequently in stories shared by survivors.
In 2021, the federal government declared Sept. 30 a statutory holiday to coincide with Orange Shirt Day, an annual observance inspired by events to “commemorate the residential school experience, to witness and honour the healing journey of the survivors and their families, and to commit to the ongoing process of reconciliation,” as described by the Orange Shirt Society.
Subsequently, some provincial governments have passed legislation to recognize the statutory day in their own jurisdictions.
You can learn more about the history of Canada’s residential schools here.