09/30/2026
Today, on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, amid a time of rising and emboldened residential school denialism, we honour Survivors and recognize the harms of colonialism and the systems and policies that continue to perpetuate those harms today.
Colonial policies and systems continue to produce harm. They contribute to generational trauma, health disparities, over-policing, and the criminalization and marginalization of Indigenous communities.
Canada’s drug policies are part of this reality. Drug laws have been used as tools of power and control and continue to contribute to the over-policing and criminalization of Indigenous people.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission called on governments to eliminate the overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in custody and provide culturally relevant services related to substance use. Reconciliation requires us to take these Calls to Action seriously and address the systems and policies that continue to produce inequities.
That means:
• Addressing the harms of criminalization and systemic racism in drug policy.
• Supporting Indigenous-led approaches to harm reduction, treatment, healing and wellness.
• Respecting Indigenous self-determination and the right of communities to shape the policies and services that affect their health and wellbeing.
Truth and reconciliation require more than recognizing the harms of colonialism. They require changing the systems and policies that continue to reproduce them.
Today, we honour Survivors, remember the children who never returned home, and recognize our responsibility to support justice, healing and self-determination.
Learn more: https://linktr.ee/candrugpolicy
