Budget Parity for Nov 11th & Sep 30th >> Advent Policy Brief #12

I'm betting every reader can name the holiday on November 11th, but a fair number of you don't recognize the second date. September 30th is our newest holiday: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. 

My twelfth Advent Policy Brief calls for equal budgets for Remembrance Day and National Day for Truth and Reconciliation commemorations. The practice ought to be mandatory for public bodies and encouraged in private and non-profit sectors. 

My proposal has geographic motivation. Remembrance Day ceremonies have decades of tradition deep in every corner of the country. Mandating equal NDTR : Remembrance Day funding brings the conversation of truth and reconciliation to every town and village council from coast-to-coast-to-coast. Elected officials everywhere would be learning about NDTR and making new community traditions that rise to the complicated tone of NDTR. 

Remembrance Day and NDTR each have two core purposes held in contention with one another. For both, one of the purposes dominates the holiday's narrative to its detriment. Remembrance day conjures two mottoes: Lest We Forget and Never Again; compare the namesake Truth and Reconciliation. Remembrance Day is incredibly effective public history on display; we're good at remembering. However, we suck at peace. Similarly, the "truth" in Truth and Reconciliation is much more emphasized than reconciliation. I assume the average person sees the point of NDTR as learning about residential schools and performative sadness. My ideal concept of NDTR includes actions of healing and hope. 

Regardless, NDTR is still years away from achieving cultural saturation like Remembrance Day maintains. The first step of reconciliation, is putting it in the budget. 


Black background with overlaid poppies in upper right corner and National Day for Truth and Reconciliation official promotional image in bottom left