October 17, 2025

Check against delivery

I am honoured to be addressing leaders from all sectors of activity across our great country.

We are witnessing a profound transformation of our society.

This is a time of challenges and threats, but also one of possibilities and hope.

The turmoil unfolding around the world is having real impacts here at home.

It’s creating uncertainty for Canadian businesses. It’s causing job losses and driving up the cost of living, and it’s placing a heavy burden on families across the country.

Conflicts elsewhere are fuelling cultural tensions here, in our communities.

Right now, many Canadians feel that their identity, their way of life and their values are under threat.

In response, some are choosing solidarity and collaboration.

Others, sadly, are turning inward, out of fear, or are lashing out in anger.

Our country is not immune to hate crimes, racism or discrimination.

Online, we see contempt, polarization and misinformation.

For example, some go as far as to publicly deny the painful truths shared by residential school survivors.

But we’ve faced profound divisions and hardships before.

We know what it takes to build a stronger country.

Canada has always been a welcoming nation that is capable of reconciling different identities. We understand diversity in ways many countries do not.

Despite significant challenges, it’s heartening for me to see a renewed sense of national pride among Canadians—especially at celebrations like Canada Day.

I am grateful to see governments and organizations like yours coming together as never before—

to strengthen our economy, and to build inclusive partnerships across all fields.

In recent years, I’ve also witnessed powerful acts of reconciliation throughout the country.

Ten years ago, through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the voices of residential school Survivors awakened our collective conscience.

And real change is taking root.

I feel a growing desire among Canadians to better understand our history.

I’ve seen Indigenous traditions take their rightful place at commemorations and international events.

I have seen institutions showcase Indigenous cultures, like the Musée de la civilisation du Québec, just a few blocks from here.

Governments have named monuments and public spaces to honour Indigenous peoples, offering a more balanced representation of Canadian history.

In cities like Québec, people have developed essential services to better support Indigenous peoples.

For example, I learned that in several hospitals in the city of Québec, Indigenous patients can be accompanied by someone who understands their culture, language and spiritual needs.

A cultural room was also created at the Hôtellerie hospitalière de Québec to better honour Indigenous approaches to healing.

This is comforting support for patients and their families.

Across Canada, the scientific community is recognizing the value of Indigenous knowledge in the fight against climate change by including the timeless and enduring wisdom of Inuit.

And I’m proud that our national honours system is becoming more representative of Canadian diversity.

For instance, the Order of Canada includes distinguished Indigenous members such as Abenaki filmmaker and singer Alanis Obomsawin.

We honoured the late actor Graham Greene, whose talent brought so much to our artistic landscape.

The Order of Canada also includes unifying Indigenous leaders like the late Max Gros-Louis, from Wendake, not far from here.

I’m also encouraged to see Indigenous communities, all levels of government, and Canadians coming together to confront serious and complex challenges—

including the disproportionate and alarming levels of violence experienced by Indigenous women and girls.

In communities like the one where I grew up, in Nunavik, women are the heart of the family and the keepers of culture.

When an Indigenous woman goes missing, it is a pillar of the community that collapses.

That’s why it’s encouraging to see such a broad range of efforts—from fighting human trafficking, to expanding access to shelters, to supporting healing and recovery from trauma.

I commend this coordinated work.

It shows a growing understanding that, to end gender-based violence—and to tackle systemic racism in our public services—we need to make more than small adjustments.

We need a deeper shift in our collective mindset.

We need everyone in Canada to realize a simple truth:

The trap of withdrawing into oneself is never far away.

There is no “us” versus “them”.

We are all interconnected.

This is reconciliation.

In a country as vast and diverse as Canada, reconciliation reaches beyond the relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

It speaks to how we relate to one another across lines of  race, gender, language, culture, religion or worldview.

It reflects the many communities—past and present—who have worked, and continue to work, to make Canada stronger.

As leaders from all sectors, you have the power and influence to shape this journey.

Reconciliation is beginning to spark hope across the country.

What moves me most is seeing more Indigenous youth proudly learning and speaking their ancestral languages today.

Most people of my generation were forbidden to do so in school.

Now, schools are opening their doors to Indigenous language instruction.

Elders are being called upon by governments and universities to help develop digital tools that allow youth to learn languages like Salish, Cree, Inuktitut, Mohawk, and many others—some of which only have a handful of fluent speakers remaining.

This is deeply powerful.

It means that young Indigenous people can now forge their future careers while embracing their identity with pride.

It means we are moving towards greater equity and equal opportunity for all.

This fills me with hope for the future.

I thank all of you who are contributing to this progress.

Canada’s unique blend of identities has never been a flaw—it’s always been our edge.

So, we must continue to choose the path of reconciliation, no matter how difficult.

On October 1, we raised the Survivors’ flag in Ottawa to honour the children who were sent to residential schools and never came home, and those who survived.

One Survivor shared that, for him, speaking about his experience was not about revisiting the past. It was about extending an open hand to Canadians.

About moving forward together.

Canadians have the tools.

We have access to knowledge and education. We live in a democracy. We enjoy freedom of speech.

Let’s make reconciliation more than a government action plan.

Let’s embrace it as a Canadian value—one that guides our decisions today and shapes our future.

To those around us who feel threatened and are fueling division, we can speak to them with curiosity and cultural humility.

We can show how deeply interconnected we all are, and choose solidarity over isolation.

Collaboration over division.

Hope over fear.

So that we emerge from these challenging times stronger, together.