Honour National Day for Truth and Reconciliation with CBC
How to watch and listen to our special programming on September 30
CBC is marking the fourth National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (also known as Orange Shirt Day) on Monday, September 30 with an extensive lineup of Indigenous-led original programming showcasing First Nations, Métis and Inuit perspectives and experiences across CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC News streaming channels, CBC News Network, CBC Radio, CBC Music and CBC Listen.
CBC's programming will include the CBC News live special Remembering the Children: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, hosted from Ottawa by CBC News Chief Correspondent Adrienne Arsenault, as well as the third edition of musical celebration Reclaimed Presents: ʔəm̓i ce:p xʷiwəl Come Toward the Fire and the special F I R S T. from CBC Indigenous, exploring First Nations, Inuit and Métis trailblazers and their incredible accomplishments.
CBC's National Day for Truth and Reconciliation lineup on Monday, September 30 includes:
CBC News Special – Remembering the Children: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
2:30 p.m. ET on CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC News Network, CBC News streaming channels, cbcnews.ca, the CBC News app and the CBC News YouTube channel
CBC News Chief Correspondent Adrienne Arsenault will be in Ottawa to host special live coverage of events to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, including the program Remembering the Children: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in association with APTN and CBC/Radio-Canada, to honour residential school survivors and pay tribute to the children who never made it home.
F I R S T.
5 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. ET on CBC News streaming channels and begins streaming at 9 a.m. ET on CBC Gem
On the fourth annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, CBC Indigenous is telling the stories of our truth. Today will be a tough day. Important, traumatic stories will be shared by survivors. But we must also take the time to acknowledge that we are so much more than our trauma. Join CBC Indigenous as we focus on some of our truths. The truth that we are resilient, successful, amazing and smart. The truth that we were FIRST. From new inventions, the law and outside the law, medicine and feats of great heights, in the sports world and beyond, let's talk about the accomplishments of First Nations, Inuit and Métis trailblazers.
Behind Every Image, A Story
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) on CBC TV and watch anytime on CBC Gem
A documentary about the search to restore the identities of anonymous Indigenous peoples in historic photographs.
Mashkawi-Manidoo Bimaadiziwin Spirit to Soar
9 p.m. (9:30 NT) on CBC TV and watch anytime on CBC Gem (available in both Anishinaabemowin and English)
In the wake of an inquest into the mysterious deaths of seven First Nations high school students in Thunder Bay, Ont., Tanya Talaga examines what, if anything, has changed since they died.
CBC Listen, CBC Radio and CBC Music
All day on September 30, CBC Music will highlight Indigenous artists and composers.
Q with Tom Power
10 a.m. (10:30 NT) on CBC Radio, CBC Listen and everywhere you get your podcasts.
Dr. Shirley Cheechoo, one of Canada's most prominent voices in Indigenous film and theatre, joins Tom Power to talk about her life on stage and screen, and the healing and medicine she has found in art. And actor, producer and director Devery Jacobs (Rhymes with Young Ghouls, Blood Quantum, Reservation Dogs) talks about her journey to this moment — and what she wants for her own future.
Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud
11 a.m. (11:30 NT) on CBC Radio, CBC Listen and everywhere you get your podcasts.
Elamin Abdelmahmoud speaks with three Indigenous cultural creators about how the concept of Indigenous Futurism is inspiring artists across all disciplines, and how its forward-thinking philosophies can promote the cause of Indigenous self-determination.
The Next Chapter
1 p.m. (1:30 NT) on CBC Radio and CBC Listen. Also airing Saturday, September 28 at 2 p.m. (2:30 NT, 5 MT, 5 PT) on CBC Radio, CBC Listen and everywhere you get your podcasts.
The Next Chapter presents an all-Indigenous program, including a tribute to the late Darrel J. McLeod.
Reclaimed Presents: ʔəm̓i ce:p xʷiwəl Come Toward the Fire
5 p.m. (5:30 NT) on CBC Music and CBC Listen. Also airing Saturday, September 28 at 9 p.m. (10 AT, 10:30 NT) on CBC Radio, CBC Listen and everywhere you get your podcasts.
Celebrating Indigenous talent, creativity and brilliance with live music performances by Sebastian Gaskin and Celeigh Cardinal from the main stage of the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia. Hosted by Jeremy Ratt.
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Special
8 p.m. (8:30 NT) on CBC Radio and CBC Listen
Falen Johnson hosts highlights from the day's events in Ottawa commemorating National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, honouring residential school survivors and paying tribute to the children who never made it home. She'll also have interviews with special guests.
Beyond the programming on September 30, CBC's ongoing coverage and recognition of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation includes:
CBC Radio
Bookends with Mattea Roach
Sunday, September 29 at 1 p.m. (1:30 NT, 3 PT) and Wednesday, October 2 at 1 p.m. (1:30 NT) on CBC Radio, CBC Listen and everywhere you get your podcasts.
Mattea Roach will speak with Tanya Talaga about her book The Knowing and the companion CBC documentary series, and with Penobscot Indian Nation citizen Morgan Talty about his latest novel, Fire Exit.
CBC Television
The Knowing
All four episodes available to stream on CBC Gem beginning Wednesday, September 25; episodes air weekly on CBC TV at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT)
The Knowing is a four-part CBC original narrative docuseries that follows journalist Tanya Talaga and her family's eight-decade-long search for matriarch Annie Carpenter, revealing a story deeply intertwined with Canada's Indian Residential School system. Using sweeping imagery of the land, blended with rare archival footage and deeply personal conversations with Survivors, knowledge holders and newly found family, Talaga takes viewers on an emotional journey of both familial reclamation and an exploration of Canada's true history.
CBC Gem
CBC Gem's Truth & Reconciliation Collection is available now with more than 20 films, specials and documentaries honouring the history, heritage and diversity of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples. The collection includes 2024 Hot Docs Audience Award winner Yintah, meaning 'land' in the Wet'suwet'en language, telling the story of the Wet'suwet'en people reoccupying their territory and resisting the construction of multiple pipelines. The film follows Tsakë ze' Howilhkat Freda Huson and Tsakë ze' Sleydo' Molly Wickham, along with the Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs and fellow land defenders, as they reoccupy and protect their traditional land in a decade-long battle to keep out the companies that seek to exploit it.
CBC Podcasts
Long after the Kuper Island Residential School was torn down, the survivors remain haunted by what happened there. Investigative journalist Duncan McCue exposes undisclosed police investigations, confronts perpetrators of abuse, and witnesses a community trying to rebuild on top of the old school's ruins and the unmarked graves of Indigenous children. This eight-part series is available on CBC Listen and everywhere podcasts are available.
CBC Books
CBC Books will feature digital content centred around the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day, including a reading list curated by Orange Shirt Day founder Phyllis Webstad.
CBC Kids and CBC Kids News
Orange Shirt Day founder Phyllis Webstad visited the CBC Kids studio to discuss her new book Today is Orange Shirt Day. CBC Kids will showcase the best of their Indigenous-themed programming across CBC Kids YouTube, CBC Gem and the CBC Kids preschool morning broadcast schedule. CBC Kids News teen contributor Sophia Smoke, from Dakota Plains First Nation, hosts three videos to help students and teachers talk about the day including an explainer on the 94 Calls to Action, an explainer on how to have respectful conversations with residential school survivors, and a feature interview with survivor Dorene Bernard from Sipekne'katik First Nation, who answers questions from kids across the country.
About the Logo Artist
Contributing Art Director Emily Kewageshig, an Anishinaabe artist raised in Saugeen First Nation #29, designed the CBC logo in 2021 to mark the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Her work captures the interconnection of life forms using culturally significant materials from the land.