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Local activities for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

The Falstaff Family Centre hosts events on Friday for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. City of Stratford and Town of St. Marys are also hosting activities
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The Falstaff Family Centre is the venue for an outdoor learning experience, where residents can learn about Indigenous culture and traditions this Friday, which is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

“We are again so pleased to be hosting this event,”  Loreena McKennitt, director of The Falstaff Family Centre and founder of Wise Communities Stratford said in a media release. “We are most fortunate that these people have agreed to come and share their knowledge of Indigenous culture and history.”

The event will feature three similar presentations at 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., and 4 p.m. They will include a meet and greet with live Ojibwe ‘Spirit Horses,' land acknowledgements by McKennitt and Stratford city councillor Jo-Dee Burbach, and a sacred fire, a traditional way to start a ceremony or event.

Christin Dennis, also goes by the name ‘Fast Moving Cloud’ in Ojibwe, is lead knowledge keeper at the Avon Maitland District School Board, who will explain the importance of the Medicine Wheel Garden. He will also perform the smudging, a burning of traditional medicines in a ceremony for purifying and cleaning the soul from negative thoughts of a person or place.

Dennis will also present his art and handmade orange t-shirts blessed by area-artist Winona Sands.

The day will finish with a solidarity walk around the Avon River, starting at The Falstaff Family Centre at 5 p.m.

In 2021, the federal government declared Sept. 30 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It is a federal statutory holiday. It is colloquially known as Orange Shirt Day. The day honours children who did not return home and survivors of residential schools, their families and communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process.

Orange Shirt Day promotes the concept of 'Every Child Matters'. The orange shirt is a symbol of the stripping away of culture, freedom and self-esteem experienced by Indigenous children over generations.

The City of Stratford is hosting a ceremony on Friday in front of city hall from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Per the city's website, representatives from Indigenous communities will offer words, music and song to help residents reflect on the legacy of residential schools and how to move toward reconciliation. A moment of silence will be observed at 2:15 p.m. That time was selected to recognize the initial 215 unmarked graves discovered last year at the site of the former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. Many more unmarked graves were subsequently discovered.

Local citizens will be encouraged to wear an orange shirt on Friday to promote 'Every Child Matters'.

The city will fly the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) Survivors’ Flag at municipal buildings. The Survivors' Flag was created to honour residential school survivors, and all the lives and communities impacted by the residential school system in Canada.

The Town of St. Marys has several activities and learning opportunities planned before and beyond the day itself.

From Wednesday to Friday, St. Marys Museum will host interactive research sessions about residential schools. Led by a PhD candidate from the University of Montreal, the sessions are designed to help museums encourage reflection and allyship when teaching difficult history to non-Indigenous Canadians. Pre-registration is required (email [email protected] or call 519-284-3556).

The museum is hosting exhibits that explore Indigenous themes: The #hopeandhealingcanada project, created by Métis artist Tracey-Mae Chambers features red yarns that illustrate connections between Indigenous, Inuit and Métis people with Canadians. It addresses decolonization of public spaces. As of Wednesday, it will be joined by Talking about Treaty 29, an exhibit about the history of treaties in St. Marys. 

Commemorations will start at 9 a.m. on Friday when the town raises a special orange flag at town hall. The flag includes the words “Every Child Matters” and was designed by Jeffrey “Red” George, an Ojibway artist who grew up on the lands of the First Nation of Kettle and Stoney Point.

Local Indigenous educator Patsy Anne Day will lead a corn husk doll-making workshop at 10 a.m. in the town hall auditorium. The library is also promoting a curated list of books written by Indigenous authors and its Book Walk currently features a story about the seven grandfather teachings.  

At 1 p.m., the library hosts a live stream of Remembering the Children, a national commemorative gathering happening at Ottawa’s LeBreton Flats.

All events and activities surrounding the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation are free and open to everyone. Orange shirts are encouraged to raise awareness about the ongoing impacts of residential schools and to reinforce the idea that Every Child Matters.

For more information about National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in St. Marys go to: www.townofstmarys.com/reconciliation.