How #92 Shampoo Bar Supports Truth & Reconciliation

In June of 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) presented the 94 Calls to Action to the federal government in Ottawa. These 94 calls represented 94 actionable ways that people, governments and organizations could redress the wounds inflicted on the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, and begin the process of reconciliation.

The formation of the commission and the report itself followed the Canadian government’s formal apology in 2008 for the nation’s residential school system—a system that the TRC denounced in 2015 as cultural genocide. In the years since they made this statement, upwards of 1900 graves were discovered containing the remains of children ripped from their families and placed into the government-run residential schools which operated for over 100 years from the 1870s until the 1990s.

What is Call to Action #92?

The 94 calls span across six categories, including child welfare, education, language & culture, health and justice. And among those 94 calls, Lush took particular interest in addressing #92, which states the following:

We call upon the corporate sector in Canada to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a reconciliation framework and to apply its principles, norms, and standards to corporate policy and core operational activities involving Indigenous peoples and their lands and resources. This would include, but not be limited to, the following:

i. Commit to meaningful consultation, building respectful relationships, and obtaining the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous peoples before proceeding with economic development projects.

ii. Ensure that Aboriginal peoples have equitable access to jobs, training, and education opportunities in the corporate sector, and that Aboriginal communities gain long-term sustainable benefits from economic development projects.

iii. Provide education for management and staff on the history of Aboriginal peoples, including the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal–Crown relations. This will require skills based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.

To date, only 13 of the 94 calls to action have been considered completed by the TRC. Our goal, as a business that operates on unceded and traditional Indigenous territories across North America, is to help fund #92 to ensure that this important portion of the Call to Action list is appropriately addressed.

How #92 Shampoo Bar gives back

To that end, we did what we do best: went into the lab and created a product that helps all of us give back. The result was #92 Shampoo Bar. 100 percent of the proceeds (minus taxes) of this waste-free product goes directly to Indigenous-led organizations leading reconciliation efforts. It’s scented with Båre, a fine fragrance made in collaboration with ånd Fragrance and Nunumus Management Limited—an enterprise owned and operated by Indigenous people. The scent features a blend of western red cedar, shore pine and Douglas fir oils sustainably harvested from the Nuxalk territory in the Great Bear Rainforest. The #92 stamped on the bar references the 92nd Call to Action And the orange color symbolizes Orange Shirt Day: the movement to bring further light to the true history of colonization and the ongoing resilience of First Nation and Métis people and the Inuit.

This shampoo bar is not where the work begins or ends, however. Lush continues to work toward fulfilling #92, and it is part of our business-wide commitment to reconciliation and decolonization work.