Carney marks 6th National Day for Truth and Reconciliation saying journey ’is far far from finished’

We are making some progress, but we know the work of reconciliation is far, far from finished. The wounds are still too deep. The gaps are still too wide. Reconciliation is a journey, not a destination. It's an attitude, not an achievement, Carney told an audience in Edmonton. 

Our job is to move together as far and as fast down the path as we can … Our responsibility, certainly the responsibility of government, is to reflect, and our task will be to act together.

• How to observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30 (new window)

Dedicating his remarks to the Indigenous children and their families in attendance, Carney said he came to Edmonton to hear their stories, to reflect on a dark chapter in Canada's past and to find a way to move forward together. 

This is not a distant chapter in Canada's past, but a truth that endures, and truth is the foundation of justice, he said. We shouldn't choose which parts of our history to remember … and we should not hear the truth of residential schools and fail to act on it.

WATCH | Work of reconciliation 'far from finished,' Carney says:

Work of reconciliation 'far from finished,' Carney says

Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaking from Edmonton, marked the sixth National Day for Truth and Reconciliation with a call for deeper learning and action, saying 'our job is to move together as far and as fast down the path as we can.'

Earlier in the day, Gov. Gen. Louise Arbour shared her thoughts as she observed her first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, saying that facing an unsettling past is a requirement if Canadians seek to build a better country.

Speaking just before the Survivors' Flag was raised on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, she acknowledged the truth does not change the past, [but] it is a reminder that memory carries responsibility — responsibility to recognize these injustices, to learn from them and to ensure that they are never repeated.

• Almost 40,000 residential school records will be destroyed. Not all survivors think they should be (new window)
• Video (new window)

Arbour reminded Canadians that the Survivors' Flag is both a symbol of warning and a symbol of hope.

She said the flag represents what was lost, but also what endured and what continues to thrive ... the spirit, cultures, traditions and languages of communities that, despite immense hardship, have carried these legacies on from generation to generation across this country.

Arbour urged Canadians to use the sixth National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to listen with open hearts and reflect on the experiences shared by the survivors and their families.

Children forced to leave families

In a statement released before his address in in Edmonton, Carney said the residential school system was built on assimilation policies designed to sever children from their languages, cultures, identities and ways of life.

The federal government established and sustained this system, and Canada bears responsibility for the profound and enduring harm it caused.

Canada's residential schools operated from 1857 to 1996. Some 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to leave their families to attend the government or church-run institutions.

WATCH | Nearly 60 years later, residential school student buried on First Nation:

Decades after death, residential school student buried on First Nation

Duration2:04Nearly 60 years after his death, residential school student Percy Onabigon’s remains have been brought from a burial site in Woodstock, Ont., and laid to rest in his home Long Lake #58 First Nation. His family fought for years to repatriate him and are calling for more support for others facing a similar burden.Advertisement-Report

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's (TRC) exhaustive, years-long study of residential schools revealed the devastating impact they had on Indigenous people. 

The institutions were designed to assimilate Indigenous children into the dominant Euro-Canadian culture, causing deep intergenerational trauma and harm, the TRC found. They were characterized by widespread abuse and neglect, and led to as many as 6,000 deaths, mostly from malnutrition or disease.

• Watch 7 powerful Indigenous stories on CBC Gem for National Day of Truth and Reconciliation (new window)

Eleven years after the publication of the TRC report, only 15 of its 94 calls to action (new window) have been put into force.

CBC News spoke to residential school survivor Eugene Arcand on Parliament Hill.

Arcand said the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is sometimes when Indigenous Peoples have to reveal the complacency that has set in since the TRC report was published.  

In regards to adhering or even addressing some level of co-operation and understanding of the 94 calls to action, we have a lot of unfinished business here in the residential school history.

In his statement, Carney also said his government owes survivors more than remembrance.

We owe them action. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 calls to action remain a roadmap for that work.

Poilievre, Lewis and the calls to action

In a post on X, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said residential schools were a massive intrusion of government coercion imposed on Indigenous families.

They removed children from their parents and communities, while attempting to break their connection to their very identity, he wrote.