September 30, 2021

OTTAWA, Ontario— Good evening.

I am speaking to you from Rideau Hall, on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people. 

I am honoured to be Canada’s Governor General and to be part of acknowledging this very first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. 

Today, I want to communicate a message to you: Reconciliation requires effort every day, and this effort we must carry out for all time, for it has no end date or finish line. 

On this National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, I urge you to pause and reflect on Canada’s full history. Do it to honour those Indigenous children who experienced or witnessed cruel injustices. Many emerged traumatized, many still suffer pain. 

As we strive to resolve the tensions of the past with the promise of the future, we can stand together and move forward with grace and humility.

Make reconciliation a way of life.

Mary May Simon