Valerie ‘Thunderbird Woman’ Henry conducts a smudging ceremony while holding an eagle feather her uncle gifted her at Tuesday’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event at Kempton Howard Park. Photo by Natasha Jackson.

By NATASHA JACKSON

To commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Tuesday, Sept. 30, the Blake Street Junior Public School Parent Council and local First Nations Knowledge Keepers hosted a fire ceremony at Kempton Howard Park in East Toronto.

Canada held its first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30, 2021. Since then, many communities have found ways to observe the day.

Visitors to Tuesday’s ceremony in Kempton Howard Park joined organizers around the sacred fire to learn about the residential school system, colonialism, and to pray for those who were affected by Indigenous assimilation.

“When you’re praying today, please pray for them to have peace in their hearts. So that they can heal and they can go forward,” said Lorraine ‘Chickadee’ Theed. She is an educator and Knowledge Keeper at Blake Street Public School and one of the organizers of the local ceremony.

Additional speakers who attended the event were Toronto-Danforth MPP Peter Tabuns, Toronto-Danforth Public School Trustee Sara Ehrhardt, and another educator and Knowledge Keeper from Blake Street Public School, Valerie ‘Thunderbird Woman’ Henry.

“I’m hopeful that the work that started to get underway, around building self-determined urban Indigenous education at the TDSB (Toronto District School Board), can continue,” said Ehrhardt

In his speech, Tabuns acknowledged the Grassy Narrows First Nation reserve in Kenora, Ontario, and the lack of action taken by the provincial government regarding the pollution of their rivers by mercury poisoning from a pulp and paper company. Residents of Grassy Narrows are also actively opposing a proposal to build a nuclear waste dump upstream from their community, he said.

“The situation has been going on for decades, and one of which the government is not taking the actions requested by the community, and thus is contributing to a poisoning that will go on for many decades,” said Tabuns.

Henry and Theed started Truth and Reconciliation fire ceremonies in 2021 after the discovery of the unmarked graves of the missing children from residential schools across Canada. They wanted to create a way to teach children about the history of residential schools and honour those whose lives were lost or affected by trauma.

Prior to the speeches at Tuesday’s ceremony, cedar was wrapped around the microphone stand, one of the sacred medicines in the Medicine Wheel used for protection. The Medicine Wheel has different interpretations and teachings, however, the ways that each sacred medicine can be used is a shared common practice with all Indigenous communities. Tobacco is always used first and is for connecting with the Creator, spirits and ancestors; cedar is for safety and protection; sage to cleanse and purify spaces during ceremonies and teachings; and sweetgrass is also for purification and protection, but also can create a calming effect when used in a healing circle.

“These medicines are used in everyday life by smudging in ceremony. It is believed that the Creator and the Spirit is attracted to the aroma. Therefore, they allow us to better connect with our Creator, spirits and even our own ancestors. Each medicine has different uses, with unique benefits,” said Theed.

Families and guests were given tobacco wrapped in red cloth to burn in the fire. The red cloth is to represent the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLQBTQQIA+ People (MMIWG2S+) and the Red Road – representing a spiritual path in Indigenous culture of living life in good faith.

On Tuesday, a smudging ceremony was held before visitors could approach the fire pit. All of the sacred medicines – white buffalo sage, tobacco, cedar and sweetgrass are mixed together and burned in an abalone shell, and the smoke is smudged onto the visitors before entering.

While the smudging and the fire ceremony were occurring, a drumming and singing performance was played by two of the volunteer organizers, Michael ‘Thunder Bird’ and Anthony, until the event concluded.

Theed spoke about the importance of the ceremony to Beach Metro Community News.

“It is to honour their generations, honour their elders, so that they don’t miss out on any of the stories before the elders pass. To talk to them and find their songs, their stories, their food, their cultures, their dances, their clothing. Whatever is their culture, they need to know it and embrace it, and not be afraid of it. Just learn the stories so that they can tell their children’s children,” said Theed.