Today is the second annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation across Canada.
Also known as Orange Shirt Day, today will see ceremonies, marches and other gatherings to observe.
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was established last year following the discovery of suspected unmarked burial sites at former residential schools.
It is up to each province and territory to decide whether to also make it a day off for workers in their governments, schools and businesses.
In Ontario, schools will be open and operating as usual. Erika Robson, a spokesperson for Minister of Indigenous Affairs Greg Rickford, says the day is a time for schools, workplaces and communities to honour those affected by the legacy of residential school policies.
Some of the events scheduled today include the illumination of the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in orange, programming about residential schools at the Winnipeg Art Gallery and a community powwow at the Victoria-area Songhees Nation.
On this National Day for Truth and Reconciliation we acknowledge that we, CHCH, at 4 Innovation Dr., are within the treaty lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.
As a part of The City of Hamilton, we are also situated among the traditional territories of the neutral and Haudenosaunee, on land which is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.
We thank the Mississaugas of the Credit and our First Nations neighbours for sharing this land with us, and we commit ourselves to listening, learning, celebrating, and developing respectful and meaningful relationships with one another.
