“Reconciliation turns on this concept: I want to be your friend and I want you to be mine and if we are friends then I’ll have your back when you need it and you’ll have mine.”
- 2015, Ottawa, The Honourable Murray Sinclair, Mazina Giizhik, LLB MSC IPC
15th Chancellor Emeritus of ϳԹԴ
Please join us Wednesday, September 30, 2026 as we recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Event details below are updated regularly beginning late August or early September.
Background
In 2021, September 30th marked Canada’s first official National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (NDTR), a newly designated day of remembrance to honour victims and survivors of Canada’s Indigenous residential school system. For years, the 30th of September has been recognized as .
In support of this important moment of reflection and learning, the university will be offering activities and opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to learn, engage, and act toward advancing reconciliation both on and off campus.
An important aspect of Truth and Reconciliation work is committing to your own awareness and self-education of the complex histories as well as ongoing issues facing Indigenous Peoples across Turtle Island. With this, we encourage you to use the below resources as well as sources of information you discover on your own, to learn more, each day. Please read and sign the commitment to reconciliation .
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Working Group
The work done on campus leading up to September 30th is lead by the NDTR Working Group. This working group put thoughtful plans and actions toward reconciliation efforts at ϳԹԴ in a manner that engages community during the week of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and throughout the year.
For more information, please review the NDTR WG Terms of Reference.
2026: Community and Relationship Building
Each year, the NDTR Working Group has chosen an area of focus for messaging and events. For 2026, the focus is on Community and Relationship Building. This means as campus partners we are engaging in meaningful, ongoing work that builds relationships, supports respect and reciprocity, and most importantly, doing this work together.
To understand the level of understanding around the residential school system and reconciliation work, we have prepared the following survey for the Queen's community: .
Past Themes:
2024: Education - providing additional learning opportunities while encouraging a personal commitment to your own education and awareness.
2025: Respectful Engagement - in reconciliation work, with Indigenous community, and as an ally. To help clarify what this may look like, the Office of Indigenous prepared a guideline. This guide is intended for the entire Queen's community to support your conversations, your interactions, and can also be used to guide your social media messaging during NDTR content.
Events and Learning Opportunities
Please check back regularly for more planned events, which are open to all members of the Queen's University community unless stated otherwise.
If you are planning an event in support of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and would like it to be added to this webpage, please submit your event details using the Please fill out the form no later than Monday, September 21st, and, at minimum, two (2) weeks prior to your event date to allow for further promotion.
We encourage everyone to engage thoughtfully and respectfully with this important work and contribute to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation working group's ongoing commitment to strong community and relationship-building.
Union Gallery is open 11am to 4:30pm Tuesday to Saturday, with late hours until 8pm on Wednesdays. Admission is free an open to the public. Find out more at uniongallery.ca/visit
Tuesday, August 4, 2026 - Sunday, September 13, 2026
Online Auction | Union Gallery | Buy BACK by Nico Williams: Silent Auction | Auction Closes at 12:00am, September 13, 2026
Event Details: Donated by the artist, Nico Williams’ blue and black Buy BACK mat appeared his 2025 installations at Centre PHI (BINGO!) and Union Gallery (Loan Stars: Beading Back our Manidoo). Manufactured to add character to the pawn shop-inspired installations, the mat's message is one of cultural reclamation—a nod to Nico's practice of purchasing undervalued ancestral works (bandoliers, baskets, quilts, and beadworks) by artists-once-known, and displaying them with care alongside contemporary artworks by many incredible living Indigenous artists from across Turtle Island.
Funds raised from the silent auction will directly support artist fees for Union Gallery’s annual exhibition highlighting contemporary Indigenous artists local to the Katarokwi-Kingston area, hosted each year in partnership with Agnes Etherington Art Centre and Queen's University's Office of Indigenous Initiatives. Visitors can look forward to the 5th annual exhibition this September. ϳԹԴ the artist: Nico Williams, O’dehmin (ᐅᑌᒥᐣ, pronounced DAY-min in Anishinaabemowin) (b. 1989) is a multidisciplinary artist from Aamjiwnaang (pronounced am-JIN-nun, meaning “at the spawning stream”).
His ancestors were central to the Huron Tract Treaty of 1827, the Amherstburg negotiation that ceded 2.2 million acres of Anishinaabek territory. Based in Mooniyang / Tiohtià:ke / Montreal, Williams operates his incorporated studio, developing cross-disciplinary projects. Rooted in sculptural beadwork, his practice extends Anishinaabe knowledge systems into contemporary art. On his Kettle Point side, he descends from Gertrude Bresette, a member of the Great Lakes ash-basket-making guild, situating his work within the long continuum of Anishinaabek artistry and the enduring teachings of the Great Lakes Nation.
Williams holds an MFA in Sculpture from Concordia University (2021) and is a lifelong member of the Contemporary Geometric Beadwork research team. He has taught at MIT, the McCord Stewart Museum, the University of Toronto, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and has created major installations at the Brooklyn Museum. In 2025, his solo exhibition Bingo opened at the PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art, curated by Daniel Fiset. Following his 2024 Sobey Art Award, these projects affirm Williams as a leading Anishinaabe voice in contemporary art.
Silent Auction Link:
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 - Saturday, October 3, 2026
5th Annual Indigenous Art Exhibition | Union Gallery | 11-4:30 pm
Event Details: Office of Indigenous Initiatives, Agnes, and Union Gallery are thrilled to continue a partnership for the 5th annual Indigenous Art Exhibition at ϳԹԴ. Programmed in conjunction with the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the exhibition is a celebration of Indigenous artists in the Katarokwi area. Featuring artwork by Angela Wiggins, Brittany Dale, Chayse Davey, Carleigh Candice Mignonne Milburn, Helen Baillie, Hugo Lussier-Meek, Kiah Seppala, Mikey BrandTM, Niiostoseraah Thompson, Nitānis Greyeyes-Brant Barker, and Sasha Hill. The exhibition is curated by Sasza Hinton.
Additional Information:
Saturday, September 12
Opening Reception | Union Gallery | 1-3 pm
Event Details: Join us us for an opening reception at Union Gallery (UG) and meet some of the artists whose work will be exhibited in the gallery this semester. In the Main Space, the 5th Annual Indigenous Art Exhibition (presented in conjunction with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives + Agnes Etherington Art Centre) brings together artwork by Indigenous artists local to the Katarokwi area practising in a variety of artistic disciplines.
This exhibition is curated by Sasza Hinton and features artwork by Angela Wiggins, Brittany Dale, Chayse Davey, Carleigh Candice Mignonne Milburn, Helen Baillie, Hugo Lussier-Meek, Kiah Seppala, Mikey BrandTM, Niiostoseraah Thompson, Nitānis Greyeyes-Brant Barker, Sasha Hill. We will also be launching two visiting artist exhibitions centred on UG's annual curatorial theme, "living together".
In the Project Room, interdisciplinary Cree Métis artist Lara Felsing is visiting from Northern Alberta to present Holding Our Breath, which investigates the increasing prevalence of wildfires as summers continue to grow hotter and drier. On the Feature Wall, Christina Battle (visiting artist, amiskwacîwâskahikan/Edmonton) and Jill Glatt (local artist, Katarokwi/Kingston)'s collaborative exhibition Artists in the Garden reflects on a collectively-led garden project focused on plant-based art-making practices informed by the climate crisis. Light refreshments will be provided. RSVP is not required, but appreciated for planning purposes.
Event Registration:
Tuesday, September 15 - Saturday, November 21
Holding Our Breath: Visiting Artist Exhibition by Lara Felsing | Union Gallery | 11-4:30 pm
ϳԹԴ the Artist: Lara Felsing is an interdisciplinary Cree Métis artist from Northern Alberta, Canada, and a registered member of the Métis Nation of Alberta. Her material practice and research are approached with ‘two-eyed seeing’, with one eye looking through a lens of Indigenous teachings and the other through a lens of Western knowledge. Lara’s practice responds to the stories happening on the land where she lives and beyond. Her work investigates climate change, community, and kinship towards the land and more-than-humans. Her practice addresses the increasing prevalence of wildfires, including sharing her experiences evacuating from her community twice in 2023.
She creates an ecology of artwork that reflects the power and knowledge embedded in the land, and shares the message of acknowledging our connection to the natural world for our survival and the health of the land and more-than-human species with whom we coexist. ϳԹԴ the exhibition: This fire season, thousands of wildfires have burned worldwide. Lara Felsing’s exhibition, titled Holding Our Breath, investigates the increasing prevalence of wildfires as summers continue to grow hotter and drier. The title Holding Our Breath is drawn from the experience of living with poor air quality from extreme wildfire smoke and the collective anxiety felt while wildfires burn.
This body of work is made with wildfire burn-site castoffs, flagging tape, harvested plant-dyed, up-cycled textiles, and secondhand items from Lara’s community that have been altered to reflect the increase in wildfires and their connection to drought, rising global temperatures, and the burning of fossil fuels. Sculptures and textile pieces are combined not only with forest castoffs and secondhand materials, but also with photographs taken during the wildfires in Alberta where she lives. They reference the windows she looked out of before and after evacuating, as she documented the shifting sky for signs of safety and danger. Holding Our Breath takes place at the end of the 2026 fire season. It invites conversation, sharing, and reflection on where we are, where we’re headed, and how we proceed amid wildfire, wildfire smoke, and the climate emergency. This exhibition is supported by the George Taylor Richardson Memorial Fund of ϳԹԴ and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
Additional Information:
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Missing | Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, Jennifer Velva Bernstein Performance Hall | 7:30-9:30 pm
Event Details: Experience the powerful production of Missing, the acclaimed chamber opera by Métis playwright Marie Clements and JUNO award-winning composer Brian Current. Missing gives voice, in English and Gitksan, to stories of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Set in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and along the Highway of Tears, Missing is a poetic expression of loss and hope. This moving production is led by Music Director Timothy Long and features Digital Set Design by Andy Moro. The cast includes sopranos Melody Courage and Maeve Palmer, mezzo-sopranos Marion Newman, Andrea Ludwig, and Michelle Lafferty, tenor Asitha Tennekoon, and baritone Evan Korbut.
Event Registration Required (FREE): /theisabel/whats-on/missing-opera
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Harvest Moon Celebration with David R. Maracle | Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, Principal Emerita Karen Hitchcock Recital Hall | 8-10 pm
Event Details: David R. Maracle, Bear Clan Tehanenia’kwè:tarons Cutter of Stone Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte Kenhtè:ke Kanyen’kehá:ka Award-winning Haudenosaunee artist David R. Maracle is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer whose work blends ancestral teachings with modern creativity. Since 1985, he has created exceptional stone sculptures and music, earning multiple Canadian Indigenous Music Awards, two RIAA Gold Records, and international performances including the 2000 Olympics and for the Queen of England. This performance is a celebration of harvest, gratitude, and the enduring traditions of Indigenous Peoples. Tickets $25. Queen's University Students FREE
Event Registration: /theisabel/whats-on/harvest-moon
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Sacred Fire | Agnes Benidickson Field | 1 pm
Event Details: The event is open to the entire Queen's University community.
Thursday, September 24 at 5:30 pm | Open to both students & employees
Location: Duncan McArthur Hall Auditorium
Event Details: Anishinaabe foodways are knowledge rich, intertwining ecological knowledge, biology, chemistry, nutrition, and physiology. Beyond the intertwining of Indigenous and western knowledges these foodways simultaneously connect the past, future, and present within the context of history, impacts of settler colonialism, and reconciliation. Inendaagwad wiisiniwin, Food for Thought will provide insights using Anishinaabe foodways as entry points to STEAM education, sustainability, and critical environmental and social issues.
Monday, September 28 from 3:00–5:00 PM
Location: ARC
Event Details: The ASUS Equity Commission will be hosting an educational booth in recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Monday, September 28 from 3:00–5:00 PM in the ARC. Students are invited to stop by throughout the afternoon to engage with educational resources and interactive activities focused on Indigenous histories, the ongoing impacts of residential schools, and the importance of reconciliation.
Students will also have the opportunity to enter a raffle for one of two prize bundles. One winner will receive an orange T-shirt and a handmade beaded strawberry pin, while another will receive an orange T-shirt and a handmade beaded turtle keychain. The beaded pieces are being created by Beaded by Em, with information about the cultural significance of each design shared alongside them.
The booth aims to create an accessible opportunity for learning and reflection while encouraging students to continue engaging with reconciliation beyond September 30.
September 14, 21, and 30: Truth & Reconciliation Virtual Sessions for Educators - Outdoor Learning School |
September 9, 16, 23, and 30: Walking Together: Two-Eyed Seeing for Educators - Outdoor Learning School |
September 30: Walk for Truth and Reconciliation
Join the Kingston Native Centre and Language Nest (KNCLN), the City of Kingston, and members of the Walk for Truth and Reconciliation Working Group, Sherry Elliott and Patrick Brant, as we come together to recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day.
Event Details:
- Skeleton Park
- Gathering at 5:00 PM
- Opening words followed by the walk beginning at 5:30 PM
- Walking together to Confederation Park
Along the route, participants will share drumming and singing. All are welcome to bring their prayers, drums, voices and regalia. This community-led walk honours Survivors of residential schools, remembers the children who never returned home, and creates space for reflection, learning and collective action toward reconciliation.
Sunday, September 27, 1:30 pm
Beyond Land Acknowledgements: From Words to Transformative Change
Join respected Indigenous rights lawyer and author John A. Olthuis for a candid and thought-provoking conversation about moving beyond symbolic gestures toward real, systemic change.
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Orange T-shirts on Campus
Orange T-shirts will be available for purchase beginning Tuesday, September 22nd until Wednesday, September 30th, 2026 in the Queen's Centre Atrium. the week prior to September 30th. Please see a list of times and dates below for more details.
This year, we are honoured to work with Indigenous student artist, Mazinibii'ige, Kaiya Mongrain on a new design. Her design, , was selected after the university’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Working Group invited local Indigenous artists to submit original work.
| Location | Timing |
| ϳԹԴ Centre Atrium 284 Earl Street | Tuesday, September 22, 12-3 pm Wednesday, September 23, 12-3 pm Thursday, September 24, 12-3 pm Tuesday, September 29, 12-3pm |
| Agnes Benidickson Field (ahead of Sacred Fire event). | Wednesday, September 30, 11am-12:30pm |
Payment follows a sliding scale from $10 to $20—please give what you can. There is also an option to “pay it forward” by purchasing a t-shirt for someone else. Payment will be by card only. A portion of each sale will be donated to the , and support the safety and wellbeing of First Nations children, young people, families, communities and Nations.
Additionally, donations of personal/hygiene items (toothbrushes, hairbrushes, body wash, tissues, shampoo, conditioner, lotions, etc), socks, and slippers will be accepted as an alternative form of payment at the booths, supporting , a local Kingston organization who provide affordable, supportive, not for profit housing to Indigenous peoples and connect the urban Indigenous community to cultural, education, and employment support services
More ϳԹԴ the Artist, Mazinibii'ige, Kaiya Mongrain
A conversation with Eddie Daniels, Communications Manager, Vice-Principal (Culture, Equity, and Inclusion) + member of the NDTR Steering Committee
The anticipation of others interpreting her artwork nudges Mazinibii'ige (Kaiya Mongrain) to smile. The idea of observers being whisked away on their own creative journey while exploring her art draws a connection between Mongrain and her audience.
During the Spring of 2026, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Working Group at ϳԹԴ placed a call for local Indigenous artists to submit original artwork to be used for new 2026 orange T-shirts. The committee selected Mongrain’s design, entitled “Rooted Remembrance.”
“It's always fun to wonder what other people will take away from my piece, and I think that's just the fun part of art,” says Mongrain, who began drawing in middle school. “The fun in it is once I put out a piece into the world and it's public, people can see it and view it. It changes in a way that is beyond me, because it becomes something different for somebody else. No one's going to look at my art the same way and I think that's the beauty of it.”
Mongrain, who completed her Bachelor of Education in the Indigenous Teacher Education Program (ITEP) at ϳԹԴ this summer, is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Biology. It is in the study of the environment that has found its way into her creations. Mongrain often immerses herself in nature and typically comes away with snapshots – both mentally and on her phone – of ideas for her next drawings. This love of nature sprouted from a childhood growing up on Mko Mnising (Bear Island), in the heart of Teme-Augama Anishnabai (Lake Temagami).
“Rooted Remembrance” incorporates cherished aspects of Indigenous culture. For instance, the bottom of the artwork features hands holding a smudge bowl, representing cleansing and good thoughts. From the smudge bowl, smoke whisps upward, creating the outline of a tree, symbolizing growth. Within the tree are handprints of various sizes, representing survivors and victims of Canada’s residential school system. There is also an image of a mother holding a child, driving home the cost of residential schools – separating parents from children. Additionally, a circle representing the medicine wheel, the cycle of life, conveys how everyone is interconnected.
Many of Mongrain’s sketches, similar to “Rooted Remembrance,” weave myriad details and meanings throughout. It is a style derived from her love of reading, scene setting, and a desire to story tell. It’s also an approach that can be challenging for an artist, but Mongrain relies on advice her father, also an artist, often offers.
“Give it time, and then time fixes everything,” says Mongrain, who has served as co-President of the Queen's Native Students Association. “He says you have to be patient sometimes. The idea is: marinate. Then you go back, and then it's another burst of, ‘Oh, I got it. I get what I'm trying to capture.’ It's kind of that ebb and flow.”
As in years past, the T-shirt can be purchased by ϳԹԴ community members. Sales will take place inside the ϳԹԴ Centre Atrium on September 22, 23, 24, and 29 from 12-3 pm on each day. T-shirts will also be sold at Agnes Benidickson Field on September 30 from 11 am to 12:30 pm, prior to the Sacred Fire. ϳԹԴ community members are encouraged to wear orange on that day.
Pricing for the T-shirts will follow a sliding scale from $10 to $20. There is also an option to “pay it forward” by purchasing a T-shirt for someone else. Community members can also bring items to donate, such as personal hygiene products, socks, slippers, or other related items. Material donations will go to local Indigenous organization, Tipi Moza (Iron Homes), and a monetary donation – based on a portion of T-shirt sales – will go to First Nations Child and Family Caring Society.
The Sacred Fire at Agnes Benidickson Field will take place at 1 pm, with speeches from Principal Patrick Deane, AMS President Dreyden George, Vice-Provost of Student Affairs Corinna Fitzgerald, and Associate Vice-Principal (Indigenous Initiatives) Lisa Maracle beginning at 1:15 pm.
In 2021, the Canadian Government established September 30th as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (NDTR) to recognize the history and impact of the residential school system on Indigenous people and communities. The significance of this day is rooted in Orange Shirt Day, which first began in 2013, and was initiated by the St. Joseph Mission Residential School Commemoration Project and Reunion in Williams Lake, British Columbia.
The focus for the 2026 National Day for Truth and Reciliation, as set by the NDTR Working Group at ϳԹԴ, is community and relationship building. For Mongrain, she is hopeful her artwork can help foster community building and connection between all living beings.
“In my art, I always try to incorporate those relationships we can observe with each other,” she says. “When we observe things through nature, we see those relationships between other beings (and ourselves). … I think it can play a good part in practicing gratitude and recognizing and appreciating those smaller things.”
Community members can add their National Day for Truth and Reconciliation-related events to the NDTR Event Submission Form. To see a list of events taking place at ϳԹԴ, which includes the Fifth Annual Indigenous Art Exhibition, please visit the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation events section of the Office of Indigenous Initiatives website.
Resources
The following resources will help provide education, understanding, and awareness on Indigenous history, current issues, etc.
For a full list of resources, please click here.
Indigenous Organizations
The following are local and province-wide organizations, Indigenous communities, etc. for you to be aware of.
To view more organizations, please click here.