FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - September 30, 2026

Statement from the BC Muslim Association on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

On the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the BC Muslim Association joins people across Canada in honouring Survivors of residential schools, remembering the children who never returned home, and standing with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis families and communities who continue to carry the pain and legacy of this history.

This day is not only a day of remembrance. It is a day of truth, humility, learning, and responsibility. Reconciliation cannot be reduced to words or symbols. It requires listening to Indigenous Peoples, acknowledging the harms caused by colonial policies, and understanding the continuing impacts of dispossession, forced assimilation, family separation, and systemic racism.

We also recognize that the harms experienced by Indigenous Peoples did not end with residential schools. The ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, and girls, is a painful reminder that colonialism continues to shape conditions of safety, dignity, and justice today. This crisis is not the same as the residential school system, but it is connected to the same wider legacy of systemic racism, institutional failure, structural inequality, gendered violence, and intergenerational trauma. A sincere commitment to reconciliation must therefore include a commitment to the safety and dignity of Indigenous women, girls, families, Elders, and youth.

As Muslims in British Columbia, we recognize that our masajid, schools, homes, businesses, and community institutions are located on Indigenous lands. Many of us came to Canada seeking safety, dignity, opportunity, and belonging. We therefore have a responsibility to understand the histories of the lands on which we live and to build relationships rooted in respect, justice, and mutual care.

There are also important human connections between Muslim and Indigenous communities. Many Muslim families know the pain of displacement, racism, exclusion, cultural misunderstanding, and the struggle to preserve faith, language, family, and identity across generations. These experiences are not the same, and we do not equate them. But they can help us approach reconciliation with empathy, humility, and a deeper responsibility to stand against all forms of injustice.

Our Islamic values also call us to respect the Earth and all living beings as part of Allah’s creation. Islam teaches that human beings are entrusted with responsibility, not domination; care, not extraction; balance, not excess. This commitment to stewardship, humility, and respect for creation resonates with many Indigenous ways of being, knowing, and doing, which honour the land, water, animals, ancestors, future generations, and the relationships that sustain life. These shared values can become a foundation for deeper dialogue, learning, and cooperation between Muslim and Indigenous communities.

Our faith calls us to truth, justice, compassion, and the protection of human dignity. The Qur’an commands us to stand firmly for justice, even when it is difficult. These values require us to be more than passive observers. They call us to be responsible neighbours, trusted partners, and active contributors to healing and reconciliation.

BCMA commits to playing a more proactive role in Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. This includes encouraging education within our community about the history and legacy of residential schools, learning from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, creating opportunities for dialogue with Indigenous leaders and communities, supporting Indigenous-led initiatives where appropriate, and exploring ways for our schools, youth programs, branches, and masajid to engage more meaningfully in reconciliation.

We also recognize the presence and contributions of Indigenous Muslims, whose identities remind us that these histories and communities are not separate. They are connected through lived experience, shared spaces, and the common pursuit of dignity, belonging, safety, and justice.

On this day, we invite Muslim communities across British Columbia to pause, learn, reflect, and act. We encourage our members to listen to Survivors, support Indigenous-led education and healing efforts, and build respectful local relationships with Indigenous neighbours and Nations.

May this day move us beyond remembrance toward responsibility, beyond sympathy toward solidarity, and beyond statements toward sustained action.

BC Muslim Associaton