22 Days for Healing and Reconciliation

Learn. Pray. Act.

As our church participated in the closing ceremonies of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission on May 31, 2015, we marked the 22 days between then and National Aboriginal Day as 22 Days for Healing and Reconciliation. Across Canada, church bells rang, and people prayed and learned in community about the reality of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and called for a national enquiry.

In this year’s 22 Days, we invite you to learn about the work of the Anglican Healing Fund, and especially about its support for community-based projects directed towards the recovery of Indigenous languages. Learn how language recovery supports healthy identity, pray for those who seek healing through the recovery of their language, and act to support the Anglican Healing Fund.

Learn

The Healing Fund has funded community-based and indigenous-led initiatives across the country.

Pray

Join Anglicans across Canada and pray for reconciliation and healing.

Act

Put your prayers into action. Get involved in local events. Give as an individual or a parish.

Learn more 
Join in 
Act now 

Learn

For 25 years, the Anglican Healing Fund has financially supported local, community-led healing projects. As a response to the on-going legacy of the residential school system, grants from the healing fund are made to encourage and initiate programs that help heal, educate, and recover language and culture.

Read more about the Anglican Healing Fund.

Pray

God who creates, who redeems, who makes holy, we thank you for the holy gift of language, and especially for the languages of the Indigenous peoples of our church and our country. We acknowledge with heavy hearts the loss of language imposed on those peoples, and pray for the continuing work of recovering those languages, those mother tongues that speak from heart to heart. Strengthen, we pray, our commitment to that work, our gratitude to those who undertake it, and our generosity in response to the continuing need for it. These things we pray through the Lord Jesus, risen and alive among us. Amen.

Act

Light a candle. Say a prayer. Set aside a toonie each day for 22 days. Your generous outpouring of prayer for healing and your gift will make a difference in the lives of those affected by the Indian Residential School System.

Many cathedrals and parish communities across Canada are also planning special services and events throughout the 22 Days. Check with your diocese or parish to find out what events are happening near you.

You may also choose to mark the 22 days between May 31 and National Aboriginal day learning more about residential schools, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action or the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Explore the resources below to find out more.

Give now

Resources: