Published · BABA & KOKUM
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day – Every Child Matters fall on Wednesday, 30 September 2026. Canadian Heritage has funded 298 events across the country this year, and the national gathering, Remembering the Children, is broadcast live from Parliament Hill for 90 minutes from 12 p.m. ET on APTN and other major networks. BABA & KOKUM, a community project started at UAFest, points readers to the chronicle chapters where Ukrainian settlement meets the laws of dispossession. (Canadian Heritage, modified 23 September 2026.)
For teachers this week
Our draft units for grades 6–12 name the source of every fact.
What happens on September 30, 2026
September 30 is a federal statutory holiday that honours Residential School Survivors, their families and communities, and remembers the children who never returned home.
- The law: Bill C-5 received Royal Assent on 3 June 2021, answering Call to Action 80 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
- Orange Shirt Day: began in Williams Lake, B.C., on 30 September 2013; Canadians are asked to wear orange.
- The history: 140 federally run residential schools operated from 1867 to 1996; the Commission (2008–2015) issued 94 calls to action.
Orange Shirt Day 2026 in Ottawa: when and where
| When | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Sept, 12 p.m. ET | Remembering the Children, 90 minutes, from APTN and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation | Parliament Hill; live on APTN |
| 30 Sept, evening | Peace Tower and Senate Building lit in orange | Parliament Hill |
| Dates set by each organizer | Funded events, among them the Legacy of Hope Foundation's Truth, Honour, and Action and Minwaashin Lodge's Resiliency Day | Ottawa and Gloucester; full list |
| Lanark County | We found no entry on the funded list on 27 September | Nearest: Ottawa |
Source: Canadian Heritage, campaign page and list of funded events. The organizers named here appear on the public Canadian Heritage list; none of them has endorsed this project.
Why Ukrainian Canadians mark Truth and Reconciliation Day
Ukrainian families received Prairie homesteads in the same decades when federal law restricted what First Nations farmers on that prairie could sell. Patty Krawec, an Anishinaabe and Ukrainian writer: "The land they settled on, the 160 acres they were given on the plains, hadn't been empty after all. It had been emptied." (Rampant Magazine, 14 March 2022.)
Under an Indian Act amendment assented on 21 March 1881, First Nations farmers on reserves in Manitoba and the North-West Territories needed a permit to sell grain, root crops or other produce; the provision, later worded for Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, was repealed only in 2014. On 7 September 1891 Ivan Pylypiw and Wasyl Eleniak landed at Montreal. (Bob Joseph, Indigenous Corporate Training, after Sarah Carter, Lost Harvests; Indian Act Amendment and Replacement Act, S.C. 2014, c. 38, s. 5; Paul Yuzyk, MHS Transactions, 1951–52.) Both dates sit side by side in Neighbours, and the law between them and in the chronicle, 1891–2026.
How to mark September 30
Four steps any reader can take, in order of the day:
- Watch Remembering the Children at noon ET on APTN.
- Attend a public event from the Canadian Heritage list as a guest.
- Wear orange, in honour of Survivors and their families.
- Learn from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, the permanent archive for the statements, documents and other materials the Commission gathered.
Our status, stated plainly: no Indigenous community or organization has endorsed or partnered in this project yet.
Questions about September 30, 2026
When is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in 2026?
Wednesday, 30 September 2026, the same day as Orange Shirt Day – Every Child Matters.
What time is the national gathering on Parliament Hill?
Remembering the Children starts at 12 p.m. ET and runs 90 minutes, live on APTN.
Where can I find Orange Shirt Day 2026 events in Ottawa?
On the Canadian Heritage list of 298 funded events, sorted by province and city.
Why do Ukrainian Canadians take part in Truth and Reconciliation Day?
Ukrainian homesteads were granted on land that, in Patty Krawec's words, "had been emptied". The day asks us to learn that history from Survivors and Indigenous authors.
Write this story with us
We want Indigenous co-authors to decide how the scarf's story is told, and whether parts of it are told at all. The first step is tea in the Ottawa Valley or a thirty-minute call. This is volunteer work for everyone involved.
BABA & KOKUM started at UAFest, a Ukrainian-Canadian festival in Carleton Place, Ontario, where it was first shown on 13 September 2026.