https://www.cna-aiic.ca/fr/blogs/ic-contenu/2026/09/30/en-hommage-a-la-journee-nationale-de-la-verite-et-de-la-reconciliation
September 30, 2026 (Ottawa, ON) — On the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) honours the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples, families, and communities whose lives continue to be impacted by the legacy and ongoing harms of colonialism in Canada.
We remember the children who never returned home from residential schools. We honour survivors and their families and communities, and we recognize the strength and resilience of Indigenous Peoples.
For nursing, remembrance must be accompanied by accountability and action.
Nursing is not separate from this history. Nurses worked in residential schools, Indian hospitals, and other colonial institutions, and nursing decisions have contributed and continue to contribute to the exclusion of Indigenous knowledge and healing practices. First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples and communities continue to experience racism, discrimination, and inequities within health systems, contributing to mistrust, persistent barriers to equitable care, and preventable harm.
As the largest group of health professionals in Canada, nurses and nurse practitioners (NPs) have both an opportunity and an ethical and professional responsibility to understand these realities, examine nursing’s role within them, and help transform the systems in which we practise. Reconciliation is not a single event or a destination. It is an ongoing responsibility that lives in everyday practice: in every role, every setting, and every interaction with people in our care, our communities, and our health systems. Reconciliation is part of the process of going from learning to action.
CNA’s Code of Ethics for Nurses recognizes pursuing truth and reconciliation as a core ethical value for nursing. It calls on nurses and NPs to understand colonial histories and ongoing power imbalances, and to support culturally safer, distinctions-based care.
Learning provides a foundation for action. The Path: Your Journey Through Indigenous Canada, which was co-developed with NVision Insight Group and is offered through CNA, provides nurses, NPs, and other health professionals with an opportunity to deepen their understanding of First Nations, Inuit and Métis histories, contemporary realities, and the ongoing impacts of colonialism. Its nursing-specific module was co-developed by NVision; Hilary Fry, CNA’s director, reconciliation and equitable health systems; and First Nations, Inuit and Métis nurse leaders.
That learning matters because it can help us examine what we have been taught, recognize what we have yet to learn, and consider how our knowledge, assumptions, and actions influence the experiences of people in our care.
But learning alone is not enough. Reconciliation also requires meaningful, measurable action at individual, organizational and system levels.
The 4 Streams of Reconciliation
The 4 Streams of Reconciliation: CNA’s Action-Oriented Framework was co-developed with Indigenous nursing leadership to help move reconciliation from acknowledgement to sustained action.
The four interconnected streams call on nurses and NPs, nursing organizations, and health system partners to act across four areas:
- Accountability: acknowledge nursing’s history and ongoing role in systems that have caused and continue to cause harm, and to measure and report on progress.
- Advocacy: use our collective voice to advance education, policies and practices that support Indigenous health and self-determination.
- Anti-racism: identify and challenge racism and the structures, policies and practices that enable it.
- Allyship: listen, learn, and build relationships grounded in humility, reciprocity and respect. Allyship cannot be self-proclaimed. We must act with, and not for, Indigenous Peoples.
Together, these streams provide a practical framework for sustained action across nursing practice, leadership, education, policy and research.
Our responsibility continues
This National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, CNA encourages nurses, NPs and health professionals to reflect on what responsibility looks like in their own practice, organizations and systems.
Read. Listen. Learn. Reflect. Speak up. Challenge racism. Advocate for change. Support Indigenous leadership. And most importantly, act within the systems where you have influence.
CNA recognizes its own responsibility in this work. Our commitment to reconciliation must be demonstrated through implementation, public accountability, continued Indigenous nursing leadership, and meaningful, measurable action.
September 30 is a day to remember, honour and reflect. The responsibility to act continues every day.
About the Canadian Nurses Association
CNA is the national and global voice of the nursing profession in Canada. Our mission is to advance nursing excellence and publicly funded, not-for-profit health systems to improve the health and well-being of all people in Canada. CNA is the only national association that speaks for all nurses in all sectors and practice settings across the 13 provinces and territories. We advocate on behalf of more than half a million regulated nurses across all categories (licensed or registered practical nurses, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and registered psychiatric nurses), nursing students, and retired nurses.
Media contact:
Kerri-Anne Finn
Media and communications lead
Canadian Nurses Association
Cell: 613-282-7859
Email: kfinn@cna-aiic.ca