National Day for Truth and Reconciliation ceremony set for Kempton Howard Park on Sept. 30

A ceremony to observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is planned for Wednesday, Sept. 30, in East Toronto.

Organized by the Blake Street Junior Public School Parent Council and local First Nations Knowledge Keepers, the ceremony will take place in Kempton Howard Park starting at 6 p.m.

Sept. 30 is designated as Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in order to acknowledge the history of the residential school system and to foster learning, reflecting, and commemorating both the survivors and the children who never returned home.

Those attending are encouraged to bring their own blankets, water, and a five-dollar donation for the drummers, as they join organizers around the fire to learn more about the impacts of the residential school system and colonialism on Canada’s Indigenous population.

Participants in Wednesday’s ceremony are also encouraged to wear orange shirts in honour of residential school survivor Phyllis Webstad; a six-year-old Indigenous girl whose orange shirt was confiscated when she attended a church-run school in Williams Lake, B.C. in 1973.

Kempton Howard Park is located at 150 Blake St., just southwest of Jones and Strathcona avenues.

For more information on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, please go to https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/national-day-truth-reconciliation.html