Marking National Day for Truth and Reconciliation with an Organizational Commitment

Every September 30, the Ottawa Mission joins communities across the country in a sea of orange.

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation asks us to pause, reflect, and confront the ongoing legacy of colonization and the residential school system.

We honour the Survivors, remember the children who never returned home, and hold space for the families and communities who continue to navigate the deep wounds of intergenerational trauma.

At the Ottawa Mission, we recognize that our work does not exist in isolation from history. We operate on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation.

Every day, the disproportionate level of Indigenous homelessness in our city reminds us that housing justice and Reconciliation are inseparable.

Our shelter has engaged in deep listening through community conversations with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis neighbours with lived experience of trauma and homelessness centred on a simple yet crucial question: How can the Ottawa Mission ensure that every Indigenous person feels safe, respected, and accepted within our doors?

The insights shared during these gatherings have reinforced that safe, welcoming and respectful care for our clients goes far beyond bricks and mortar. It means encompasses relational, cultural, and spiritual connection and integrating cultural safety directly into frontline care by:

• Telling the Truth concerning the history and legacy of Colonialism and Anti-Indigenous Racism in Canada.
• Honouring Indigenous experience, strength and knowledge, including the causes of Indigenous homelessness, Indigenous worldviews, and concepts of Indigenous wellness
• Examine our own practices, including committing to respecting Indigenous identities and cultures, and a human rights approach is the foundation of all forms of support we provide to Indigenous clients.
• Right relations between Indigenous and settler populations based on truth, respect and an aligned understanding of our shared history as one family, and advancing those TRC Calls to Action that underline and impact Indigenous homelessness.
• To translate what the community has shared with us into clear organizational commitments, the Ottawa Mission is currently formalizing our comprehensive Reconciliation Framework, scheduled for public release in 2027.

This framework will serve as our statement of accountability across all of our service areas to Indigenous people who turn to us for help.

It will establish transparent benchmarks for how we evaluate our internal policies, share space and resources, uphold trauma-informed care, and support Indigenous-led housing and harm reduction models.

We want our community, donors, and partners to hold us accountable to walking this path with humility and intention.