On Red Dress Day, Northern premiers pledge $75,000 for national Truth and Reconciliation centre
A joint announcement was released on May 5 to commemorate Red Dress Day following the Northern Premier's Forum, which was held in Haines Junction, Yukon, this year. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation's [NCTR's] spirit name is Bezhig miigwan, which means 'one feather.'
'The North has been disproportionately impacted by the legacies of residential schools and colonialism and has played an important role in truth telling and reconciliation,' NWT Premier R.J. Simpson stated. 'Supporting the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation as they build a permanent home for survivors' stories will ensure those truths are never lost and continue to guide the path toward justice and healing. We're proud to do this together with Yukon and Nunavut.'
The $75,000 will go toward a $40-million fundraising campaign to cover the remaining costs of construction for a new facility at the University of Manitoba. The federal government pledged $60 million for the project in 2022. The Winnipeg Foundation has also donated $5 million to the effort.
Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai said supporting the centre was of extreme importance to the North.
'The work our territories are accomplishing together at [the] Northern Premiers' Forum is focused on meeting the needs of Northern people, advancing reconciliation and ensuring that the voices of Northern Canadians are heard,' he said. 'Supporting the work of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is one way that we are working collaboratively across the North to ensure that our history is never forgotten.'
Since its inception in 2015, the NCTR has served as both a support service for residential school survivors as well as a national archive of the atrocities that occurred during the residential school era. Housed in the historical residence of the University of Manitoba's president, the 5,800-square-foot building houses over four million records alongside over 7,000 accounts from survivors — and counting.
However, the organization has outgrown the space and many of the records are inaccessible simply due to logistics. According to a January 2025 report making the case for the new centre released by the NCTR, an addition 23 million records are anticipated to be handed over to the centre in the coming months.
To house all the information the NCTR is responsible for preserving, the new facility will feature climate-controlled archival vaults, video archives and digital recording services, a library and research centre, classrooms and a theatre, private safe spaces for survivors to view archives, a children's area and indoor and outdoor ceremonial spaces.
If all goes according to plan, the centre should be ready to open in 2029.
'As the three territories with the largest Indigenous populations in Canada, we are committed to demonstrating leadership in support of a permanent home for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation,' stated Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok. 'The collective stories of Inuit, Dene, Cree and Metis, must be shared with our children and generations of Canadians to come.'
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