District schools & buildings will be closed Sept. 30 for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

The district’s calendar for the upcoming 2022-23 school year has been adjusted to recognize National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30, 2022 as a day when schools are not in session.

The Surrey Board of Education approved the calendar amendment at last week’s public board meeting.

Last year, the federal government passed legislation to mark Sept. 30 as National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, and the province also recognized it as a day of commemoration.

Creating a national day of recognition was one of 94 recommendations made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Action 80 called upon the federal government, in collaboration with Indigenous peoples, to establish a day “to honour Survivors, their families, and communities, and ensure that public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process.”

“Our district recognizes and highlights the importance of this date and the opportunity it provides for our staff, students and families to reflect on the thousands of unmarked graves of children discovered at the sites of former residential schools across Canada in the past year,” says Surrey Board of Education chair Laurie Larsen.

“The impact on Indigenous communities has been traumatic, lasting and intergenerational and we must continue to educate and have difficult but important conversations about truth and reconciliation and meaningful action we can take.”

All Surrey School District schools and buildings will be closed on Sept. 30, 2022.