On the evening of September 30th, 2021, we started counting donations. Taking shifts, one person would read out the number, another would input it into the excel spreadsheet. $300 dollars, $150 dollars, $76.75. It was the smaller amounts that invited tears. Canadians from all socio-economic circumstances were (literally) giving one day’s pay to support Indigenous led organizations on Canada’s first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. From one citizen to the next, almost half a million dollars was raised for Orange Shirt Society and The Indian Residential School Survivors Society. Canadians were looking for a meaningful way to act, and One Day’s Pay was established as a yearly campaign for settlers to take a small step towards reconciliation.

“Confirmed,” I hear Kris Archie, CEO of the Circle on Philanthropy, saying over a zoom with our small group of non-Indigenous Canadians who wanted to do more than reflect on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. “The graves were confirmed, not discovered.”

It was May of 2021, one of our first calls with The Circle on Philanthropy leadership—a national Indigenous led organization that contributes to positive change between philanthropy and Indigenous communities. The confirmation of remains of 215 children buried at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School was dominating news headlines across the country. The Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation in Kamloops knew there were bodies buried at the school. It wasn’t a discovery. This was one of many confrontations with how language shapes our history and perception.

Our five-member group, comprised of both settlers and newcomers, asked The Circle if they’d weigh in on an idea we had: asking Canadians on the new statutory holiday—many of whom were getting a paid day off—to give that day’s pay to an Indigenous led organization. Our team was grappling with the dissonance of being asked to confront our history of residential schools and its devastating impacts while getting a paid day off. It felt wrong – and this was a year before Pope Francis named residential schools as genocidal and Members of Parliament gave unanimous consent in favour of a motion calling on the federal government to recognize Canada's residential schools as genocide.

In One Day’s Pay first press release, Kris Archie is quoted as saying:

“Feeling proud as a Canadian requires a willingness to face the harm that this country has done and that continues to do—pride is a more powerful motivator for change than shame. One Day’s Pay came to us and said they were going to raise money for Indigenous-led organizations. They are willing to face the truth, and invite others to do the same while taking action by giving cash back. It’s a first step and a captivating idea that we’re glad to support.”

It proved to be an idea that captivated many Canadians and led to action.

We now have had three years of the One Day’s Pay campaign under our belt and are reaching for 1 million dollars in donations. Every year the ask is the same:

On September 30th, give one day’s pay or an amount you can afford to an Indigenous led organization, movement or nation.

And, every year we highlight Indigenous-led organizations that provide services for Indigenous communities.

To date, One Day’s Pay has profiled eight organizations building awareness of the critical role that Indigenous advocacy plays in helping to “change the rules of the game” so that Indigenous frontline service delivery organizations are more empowered in their day-to-day jobs, improving the lives of their clients. And with less than 1% of philanthropic dollars going to Indigenous led organizations¹ One Day’s Pay provides a vital means of redistributing wealth in a way that is reparative.

Sharon Hobenshield, Executive Director of Kw’umut Lelum Foundation, the first Indigenous owned and led community foundation in British Columbia, and one of the organizations profiled in 2023 shared:

“As a newly developing foundation, I can’t tell you how much this means to us, not only for the funding, but for the exposure, and for knowing that people are committed to redress and believe that Indigenous people are in the best position to determine how they can support their communities. The response was a validation of our work and wonderful inspiration for the future and knowing what is possible as a collective community.”

Our collective community is growing

This year, we welcomed diverse networks that amplified the call including: Vancity Community Foundation, Canadian Association of Gift Planners, the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and more. We also just co-presented to Stats Canada employees with Douglas Sinclair, Publisher of Indigenous Watchdog (and a 2022 One Day’s Pay profiled organization). We hope to engage the public and private sector further as the campaign matures.

The grass-roots ethos of One Day’s Pay builds a pathway for settlers to meaningfully act and take a step towards reconciliation. We invite you to join us in raising awareness for the 2024 campaign and welcome ideas and energy from all who feel connected to this call to action.

For more information or if you would like to be an amplifying voice, supporter, co-conspirator – please reach out. Onedayspay.ca. Jessyfraser@mac.com.

To learn more about the KL Foundation and the groundbreaking work it is doing as the first Indigenous owned and led community foundation in BC, visit klfoundation.ca.

¹ First Nations peoples receive significantly less government funding for programs and services per capita ($8,400) when compared with Canadians who receive $18,178 per capita in federal, provincial and municipal spending.

In recent years, Canada has ranked between 6th and 12th on the UN Human Development Index while First Nations fall between 63rd and 78th. The federal government’s Community Well-Being Index shows that the gap has not changed since 1981.

Even though Indigenous people are about 4.9% of the population, Indigenous groups received just over .7 percent (one-half a percent) of gifted funds. - Blumberg's Canadian Charity Law, 08 29 2022. 

This reflects a similar finding in a report released in December 2020, by The Charity Report. Twenty private foundations gave a total of $1.63 billion in grants, in which 0.2% of funding went to support Indigenous organizations.