Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC): Calls to Action

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was a 6-year process of listening to the testimony of residential school survivors across Canada. It was initiated by a Canadian government settlement to survivors of these schools after a legal case — in other words, the Commission was the result of the courage and advocacy of residential school survivors themselves.

The Commission delivered these 94 Calls to Action in 2015, calling various actors in society, including churches and religious denominations, to action in response to the findings of the Commission.

In the words of Senator Murray Sinclair, the chief justice on the Commission, when presenting the final report, “We have described for you a mountain. We have shown you a path to the top. We call upon you to do the climbing.”

Which call to action could you or your church help to accomplish? Where do you feel the Holy Spirit pulling on your heart in response to these calls?

The Commission held listening events across Canada, and Christian Reformed people attended many of these events. The video below was recorded at a debriefing event at First Vancouver CRC after the TRC event in Vancouver and is intended to provoke discussion around reconciliation in other CRC communities and contexts.