National Day for Truth and Reconciliation 2026

On the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we honour the children who never returned home from residential schools, the Survivors who have shared their truths, and the families and communities who continue to live with the consequences, many generations later. We have a responsibility to listen, to learn what happened and what continues today, and to act on what we learn.

At the Alzheimer Society, we talk about seeing the person beyond the diagnosis. I think we need to ask what that promise requires of us, both as an organization and as a society.

Chapter 2 of the Alzheimer Society of Canada’s Landmark Study reports that one Alberta study found dementia rates 34% higher among First Nations people than among non–First Nations people. It projects that the number of people of Indigenous ancestry living with dementia across Canada could grow from an estimated 10,800 in 2020 to 40,300 by 2050. The report cautions that these estimates may be conservative.

Those numbers demand more than a better response to dementia after it develops. They demand that we confront the conditions that increase the risk of developing it.

We often talk about dementia risk factors as “modifiable.” But telling someone to eat well, manage their health or reduce stress means very little if they face food insecurity, inadequate housing, barriers to health care or the daily stress of racism. We cannot place the responsibility for changing those risks entirely on people who have been denied the conditions needed to change them.

Colonization is part of this story. Its effects on families, communities, education, income and health are neither abstract nor confined to the past. If we are serious about reducing dementia risk, we must support changes to those conditions alongside the care and support we provide to people already living with dementia.

And when someone does seek help, personhood has to mean more than a principle we agree with. It means care that respects language, culture, relationships and different understandings of aging. It means listening to Indigenous people about what makes a service safe and useful, and shaping that service with them. The Alzheimer Society, the health system and every organization offering support has a part to play.

Truth and Reconciliation asks us to see both the person and the society around them. We owe people living with dementia care that recognizes who they are. We also owe future generations a serious effort to change the conditions that put their health at risk.

Sincerely,

John Britton 
CEO, Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia