An event was held in Owen Sound today to mark the second annual National Truth and Reconciliation Day.
On Sept. 30, over 100 residents from the area attended Gichi-Name Wiikwedong Reconciliation Garden at 11 a.m. to remember those who did not make it home and those who were impacted by residential schools.
Owen Sound Truth Reconciliation Day (Photo by Nathan Shubert)
Gichi-Name Wiikwedong Reconciliation Garden Chair Susan Staves Schank says the event today was titled “Remember the Children.”
“We are remembering all the children who went to residential school, all the children that didn’t come home from residential school and all the families that had trauma and intergenerational trauma from the residential school legacy,” says Staves Schank.
The event started at 11 a.m. with a sacred fire and pipe ceremony, with drummers and singers following shortly afterwards. Attendees were then introduced to speaker Shayla Adamson from the Junior Optimist Club, who painted “Forget me Not” stones, which lay around Gichi Name (Grandmother Sturgeon statue).
Guests were then invited to tie orange ribbons on the fence in honour of the children who did not come home.
A sharing circle was then organized for noon with Elder Shirley John – Strong White Buffalo Woman, before the event finished at 1 p.m. with a closing song from drummers and singers.
Staves Schank adds having these events in Owen Sound is important as the truth has not been said.
“In order to have reconciliation, the truth needs to come out first,” says Staves Schank.
Mayor Ian Boddy, who was also in attendance adds there is a lot the city can learn and they need to rebuild relationships with Saugeen Ojibway Nation as well as Metis and Indigenous communities.
“It is wonderful to see the public out here supporting with such a strength today,” says Boddy.
