Hospice Palliative Helpline: 905-667-1865
Hospice Palliative Helpline: 905-667-1865
Each year on September 30, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation provides an important opportunity to honour the children who never returned home from residential schools, Survivors, their families, and their communities.
We recognize that reconciliation is not limited to one day. It requires ongoing learning, listening, reflection, relationship-building, and meaningful action.
As an organization providing hospice palliative care and support to individuals and families in our community, we also recognize the importance of understanding how culture, family, ceremony, spirituality, and connection to the land can shape experiences of serious illness, dying, death, grief, and bereavement.
Hospice Mississauga acknowledges that we work within the Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, covered by Treaties 13 (Toronto Purchase) and 14 (Head of the Lake Purchase). We also recognize this land as the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee and Huron-Wendat peoples. Today, this area is home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples from across Turtle Island.
We honour the living and continuing presence, strength, and diversity of Indigenous peoples past, present, and future, who care for and steward these lands since time immemorial.
In our work, we are present for some of the most sacred moments in a person’s life. We recognize that end-of-life care is deeply connected to culture, family, ceremony, and spirit.
We commit to building respectful and reciprocal relationships with Indigenous communities and to supporting care that reflects their values, traditions, and teachings. We understand that cultural safety requires ongoing reflection, accountability, and meaningful action.
Hospice Mississauga accepts this responsibility as part of our role in the healthcare system and commits to walking alongside the communities we serve in ways that honour dignity, sovereignty, and relational care.
Hospice Mississauga has been on a journey of learning and reconciliation for several years. In 2025, we deepened this work through the development of our organization’s first Land Acknowledgement and meaningful staff learning around the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Building on previous learning, including workshops facilitated by the The Indigenous Network (TIN), staff were invited to reflect on their relationship to the land, their understanding of Indigenous history and presence, and their individual and collective roles in reconciliation.
These reflections informed a collaborative process that resulted in a Land Acknowledgement reflecting Hospice Mississauga’s shared voice, values, and commitments, with Indigenous perspectives also helping to inform the final version.
The process was about more than creating a statement. It encouraged us to consider what a Land Acknowledgement means within hospice palliative care and how the words we share can be reflected in the way we learn, build relationships, and provide care.
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is an opportunity to reflect on the history and ongoing impacts of residential schools and colonialism, while recognizing the strength, resilience, cultures, knowledge, and continuing presence of Indigenous peoples and communities.
Our Land Acknowledgement represents another step in Hospice Mississauga’s ongoing journey toward reconciliation. We know this work does not end with a statement.
We remain committed to continued learning, listening, relationship-building, and meaningful action. As we move forward, we will continue reflecting on our responsibilities as a hospice and healthcare organization and how we can contribute to care that respects the cultures, traditions, values, and experiences of the communities we serve.
An important part of this work is continuing to examine how Hospice Mississauga can meaningfully align with and contribute to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, particularly those connected to health and healthcare. Beyond learning, listening, and reflection, we recognize that meaningful contribution also requires action. We will continue to identify opportunities within our role, services, and relationships where we can contribute in respectful, appropriate, and accountable ways.
We encourage our community to take time to learn, listen, reflect, and consider the role each of us can play in reconciliation.
Reconciliation is an ongoing journey, and we are committed to continuing that journey together.
