Colonial Impacts on Parenting: Honouring Truth

 🧡 Colonial Impacts on Parenting: Honouring Truth and Reconciliation 🧡

On September 30th, we pause for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation—a day to honour Survivors, remember the children who never came home, and acknowledge the deep impacts of colonial policies that continue to ripple through families and communities.

For generations, Indigenous parenting was rooted in the land 🌎, culture 🪶, and community 💞. Children learned through being part of daily life—hunting, fishing, storytelling, ceremony. They were trusted with responsibility, freedom, and the safety net of an extended community.

But colonial systems tried to erase this.
⚠️ Residential Schools took children from their parents, stripping them of language, culture, and love.
⚠️ The Sixties Scoop removed children into foster and adoptive homes, often far away from their families and communities.
⚠️ These patterns continue today, with Indigenous children still overrepresented in the child welfare system.

The result? Generations of parents grew up without the parenting they should have received. Trauma replaced tradition. Control replaced freedom. Pain replaced trust.

And yet—through all of this—there has always been resistance and resilience 🌿. Elders, Survivors, and families continue to reclaim language, ceremony, and traditional parenting practices. Communities are healing, step by step. Love continues to rise, even in the face of so much loss.

For those who are not Indigenous,  Truth and Reconciliation is not just a day. It is an invitation to learn, to listen, and to ask ourselves: how do we support healing and justice?

🧡 Today, we wear orange not just to remember, but to commit.
Commit to honouring the truth.
Commit to supporting reconciliation.
Commit to raising children with love, freedom, and respect.

✨ Reflection Question:
👉 How can you honour Survivors and support reconciliation in your own family, school, or community?