National Indigenous People Day: Highlighting the barriers to practicing Culture
June 19, 2026
National Indigenous Peoples Day (June 21, 2026), is a holiday that honours the diverse and rich cultures, histories, and resilience of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous Peoples have inhabited these lands for thousands of years, communicating through complex and beautiful languages. Indigenous Peoples have maintained unique knowledge systems, traditions, and ways of life.
Drawing on this day’s core values, it is significant to address the barriers faced by the Indigenous population, particularly children and youth, to participating in their cultural practices.
Investing in Tomorrow: Future Without Poverty (2025) illustrates the high poverty rates of Indigenous children compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts, linking these disproportionate rates to historic and ongoing effects of colonization, institutional racism, marginalization, and discrimination. The report found that 23.7% of Indigenous children lived in poverty, a rate that is two times higher than that of non-Indigenous children{1}. The socioeconomic status of Indigenous children and families has played a key role in cultural erosion. Poverty and inequality can contribute to the lack of means to engage in cultural practices due to material deprivation. Indigenous families residing on reserves experience food and housing insecurity at alarming rates. In 2024, nearly one in three Indigenous Peoples aged 15 and older were living in moderate or severely food-insecure households {2}. As a result, Indigenous families may spend more time focusing on their economic challenges rather than engaging in cultural practices.
Furthermore, state interventions such as child welfare can result in Indigenous children losing access to their cultures and traditions. Child welfare systems seek to protect the well-being of children, and those that fall into the categories of being at risk of “imminent or future danger” face high chances of being apprehended into state care {3}. However, there are significant racial disparities for children who are removed from their homes. Indigenous children and youth are apprehended at disproportionate levels, making up 30% of those in state custody despite representing a smaller proportion of the population {3}. One rationale behind these removals can be attributed to “neglect”; a parent who is unable to provide necessities (i.e., housing and food) sufficiently may face the removal of their child into state care. Indigenous populations, especially those living on reserves, often lack proper infrastructure, social safety nets, and resources such as clean water and safe housing. These issues are further amplified by colonial practices and policies that have resulted in intergenerational trauma and unhealthy coping mechanisms, making Indigenous populations more vulnerable to poverty.
The mass removal of children mirrors the legacy of residential schools, where children and youth were forcibly taken from their homes, communities, families, and cultures. Residential schools operated for over a century, with closures occurring as recently as the 1990s. These institutions operated nationwide with the intent of assimilating students into Euro-Canadian society. Although residential schools have closed, anti-Indigenous racism continues to operate within contemporary institutions. Indigenous children are being separated from their families, community members, and Elders, losing access to communal support, a fundamental aspect of Indigenous ways of life. Additionally, reduced interaction with cultural and spiritual teachings, combined with placement in care with non-Indigenous or Western caregivers, reinforces the same patterns of cultural genocide inflicted during the residential school era.
Despite historic, organized efforts to suppress Indigenous Peoples and dismantle their ways of life, these measures have failed. Indigenous communities remain deeply committed to disrupting settler colonialism, an ongoing act of resurgence and collective strength. Thriving through resistance, celebrations such as National Indigenous Peoples Day represent a powerful defiance against cultural suppression and systemic oppression. June 21, 2026, marks the 30th anniversary of National Indigenous Peoples Day. Coinciding with the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, this date holds significant spiritual and cultural significance, as many Indigenous nations have gathered here for generations to practice their traditions and celebrate new beginnings. Centred on the key themes of restoration and celebration, National Indigenous Peoples Day provides an opportunity for Indigenous Peoples to fully embrace and practice their heritage while promoting dialogue, relational learning, and meaningful community engagement with allies. Ultimately, seeking true reconciliation requires the federal government to establish concrete, meaningful efforts that support cultural revitalization, address structural inequalities, and fully uphold the self-governance and self-determination of Indigenous Peoples.
The Campaign200 report card, Investing in Tomorrow: A Future without Poverty (2025), calls upon the Canadian government to uphold its promise to eliminate child poverty by the year 2000. Read more about the progress here: https://campaign2000.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2025-Report-Card-on-Child-and-Family-Poverty.pdf.
Post By: Mariam Mumin (2026-06-19)
References
{1} https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810028301
{2} https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310083501