Paid day off to reflect on truth and reconciliation? There’s a way to donate those earnings

Joshua Hensman launched the One Day's Pay campaign last year and ended up raising nearly half a million dollars for organizations supporting First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples.

As Canadians observe the second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a Vancouver man is encouraging those who can to donate their day’s earnings to the cause.

Joshua Hensman and his friends launched the One Day’s Pay campaign last year and ended up raising nearly half a million dollars for organizations supporting First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples.

“It just kind of felt a bit strange to be getting a paid day off when the Indigenous people of Canada are going to be mourning,” Hensman explained.

“One day’s pay is a really simple way for Canadians to do something meaningful.”

This year’s beneficiaries are the Indigenous Perspectives Society, the Anishnawbe Health Foundation, the Orange Shirt Society and Indigenous Watchdog, a non-profit that tracks the progress of commitments to Indigenous Peoples in Canada, particularly the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission‘s (TRC) 94 Calls to Action.

The campaign partners with The Circle on Philanthropy, an Indigenous-led organization that helps mobilize the settler philanthropic sector and the decolonization of wealth. Its CEO, Kris Archie, said she would like to see One Day’s Pay continue to soar and amplify the work of Indigenous organizations, while keeping reconciliation “a conversation around the kitchen table, in workplaces, in churches and other communities throughout the whole year.”

“I’d like to see this as an entry point, an opportunity for folks to recognize that their cash can actually be helpful to local Indigenous-led organizations,” Archie told Global News.

According to Archie, less than one per cent of Canadian philanthropic donations go to Indigenous organizations. She encouraged the public to think critically about their donation practices and publicly share the Indigenous organizations they contribute to, which makes friends more likely to do the same.