As of March 2023,[update] NDTR is a statutory holiday for:[3][4] The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established to document the effects of the residential school system, ran from 2008 to 2015, and concluded that the attempt to forcefully assimilate Indigenous communities was a cultural genocide.

One year later, Davin reported that only residential schools could separate aboriginal children from their parents and culture and cause them "to be merged and lost" within the nation.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada details deaths of approximately 3,200 children in residential schools, representing a 2.1% mortality rate.

[22] Dr. Peter Bryce reported to the Department of Indian Affairs in 1897 about the high student mortality rates at residential schools due to tuberculosis.

In 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked the Pope to issue an apology over its role in the Indian residential school system.

When its final report was presented five years later, it led the government to make a statement of reconciliation in 1998 and established the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.

The commission released its final report in 2015, which concluded that the Indian residential school system was an act of "cultural genocide" against the First Nations of Canada,[29] as it disrupted the ability of parents and communities to pass on their indigenous languages and cultural practices to their children, leading to 70% of Canada's Aboriginal languages being classified as endangered.

[29][32] Orange Shirt Day was first established as an observance in 2013, as part of an effort to promote awareness and education of the Canadian residential school system and the effect it has had on Indigenous communities for over a century.

Webstad recounted her first day of residential schooling at six years old, when she was stripped of her clothes, including the new orange shirt her grandmother bought her, which was never returned.

[38][39] Today, Orange Shirt Day exists as a legacy of the SJM Project, and September 30, the annual date of the event, signifies the time of year when Indigenous children were historically taken from their homes to residential schools.

For instance, many communities have held memorial walks, film screenings, and public lectures to raise awareness about Indigenous history.

[43] The Heritage Committee chose Orange Shirt Day, and Georgina Jolibois submitted a private member's bill to the House of Commons, where it passed on March 21, 2019.

On September 30, 2021, Queen Elizabeth II, Canada's head of state, issued a message marking the day:I join with all Canadians on this first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to reflect on the painful history that Indigenous peoples endured in residential schools in Canada and on the work that remains to heal and to continue to build an inclusive society.

However, Trudeau instead took an unannounced private holiday in Tofino, British Columbia, attracting widespread criticism from the public and media alike.

[55] The governments of British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, and the Yukon added September 30th to their relevant legislations as a holiday to some extent.

[4] As of March 2023[update], NDTR is a statutory holiday for all workers in British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Prince Edward Island, and Yukon.

[8][56] In 2021, Premier Dennis King of Prince Edward Island introduced an amendment to the Employment Standards Act to officially recognize September 30 as a provincial statutory holiday for residents, which passed on November 17 that year.

Minister Harry Bains introduced a bill in the BC Legislature to make September 30 a paid statutory holiday in the province.

[59] The legislation was passed on March 9, 2023, making National Day for Truth and Reconciliation a statutory holiday for provincial workers, via amendments to the province's Employment Standards Act.