Honouring Truth Means Acting on Reconciliation

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a reminder of our ongoing and collective responsibility to recognize and confront the legacy of the residential school system and other unjust colonial systems and policies impacting the lives of Indigenous peoples in Canada today.

This year marks 11 years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its final report and 94 Calls to Action. While some progress has been made, as of August 1, 2026, roughly 41 percent have not been started, and 15 percent have stalled. One of those stalled is the full implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) as the framework for reconciliation.  

UNDRIP applies to all levels of government, and in 2023, the federal government released its UNDRIP Action Plan, which includes 181 measures to achieve the declaration’s objectives. Since then, progress has stalled considerably, and the federal government’s own 2025 progress report highlighted that significant improvement is needed. As noted by National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak of the Assembly of First Nations, the federal government’s progress report “still reveals an ongoing lack of meaningful measures to ensure Canada’s policies, legislation, consultation processes, and mandates are aligned with the spirit and intent of the Declaration.”

National Chief Woodhouse Nepinak called the report a call to action in itself. “The concerns of Indigenous communities must be heard, and governments must ensure they are fulfilling their obligations under UNDRIP and living up to their own promises of reconciliation,” said Lily Chang, Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress.

This June, the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples tabled its final report on the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, passed in 2021. The report includes nine recommendations to align federal laws with UNDRIP. In addition to urging the government to accelerate progress toward completing all the Calls to Action for which it is responsible, Canada’s unions call on the federal government to implement the recommendations of the Standing Committee.

Workers and unions also have an important role to play in advancing the calls to action and reconciliation in our workplaces and unions. We must keep working to dismantle systemic racism and discrimination, and tackle inequitable access to employment opportunities faced by Indigenous workers. We must continue to educate ourselves and members about the history and current impacts on Indigenous peoples of colonial systems and policies, and we must actively create spaces for understanding, knowledge-sharing and dialogue, and build opportunities to take individual and collective action.

Check out our latest resource: Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action: Union and Worker Solidarity

And visit our Indigenous Justice and Resource Centre for even more resources to take action to advance Indigenous rights and justice in your union and workplace.