(December 15, 2025 – Unceded Algonquin Territory, Ottawa) — On the 10th anniversary of the release of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) and its 94 Calls to Action, Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak today called for urgent action on the report’s recommendations:
“Ten years ago Canada was offered a path forward — a path grounded in truth, accountability, and reconciliation. The TRC Final Report laid bare the painful truths of the Indian Residential School system. It summoned all of us, as First Nations and as Canadians, to honour Survivors, acknowledge harms, and to move forward with integrity. We lift up the Survivors, their families, communities and all those who shared their stories so that future generations would know the truth. It is our duty to honour their memory and courage by giving life to the 94 Calls to Action in the TRC report.
The 94 Calls to Action are a living mandate. It’s been a decade, yet many Calls still remain unfulfilled, systemic injustices endure. Today, we call on the federal government, all levels of government, institutions, and every Canadian to renew their commitment. Implement all 94 Calls to Action in full. We remind all governments that the TRC called upon federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments to fully adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the framework for reconciliation. We call on Canada to uphold these legal commitments and provide sustainable, adequate support for healing, commemoration, and restoration, and support First Nations-led efforts to find, identify, repatriate and commemorate missing children and unmarked graves.
This work is increasingly important at this time when we are confronted with the scourge of Indian Residential School denialism. At the AFN Special Chiefs Assembly this month, First Nations-in-Assembly were loud and clear: Indian Residential School denialism has no place in Canada. It is rooted in ignorance. It is harmful to Survivors, First Nations and all Canadians. We will follow the mandate set forth by Chiefs and urgently press Canada to legislate IRS denialism as the hate crime that it is.
On this anniversary, we encourage all Canadians to reflect on our shared history, on what has been done and what remains to be done. We must reaffirm our individual and collective responsibility to hold space for truth, to listen, to educate, and to act. I urge all Canadians to read the TRC Report and the 94 Calls to Action. Find your place and your role in this essential work. The TRC report showed us a path to the top of the mountain. It is our responsibility to make that climb. We will get there if we travel together.”
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The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is a national political and advocacy organization that works to advance the collective aspirations of First Nations individuals and communities across Canada on matters of national or international nature and concern.
For more information, please contact:
Cherish Francis
Press Secretary
National Chief’s Office
(343) 630-1372 (mobile)
[email protected]
Kelly Reid
Senior Communications Officer
Assembly of First Nations
(613) 292-0857 (mobile)
[email protected]