Ottawa prepares for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

CTV’s Camille Wilson has the details on some of the events taking place in Ottawa to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Tomorrow, Canada will be marking the fifth National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and people across the nation’s capital are preparing to commemorate the day.

• Events in Ottawa to mark National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Claudette Commanda, an Algonquin woman & the CEO for the First Nations Confederacy of Cultural Education Centers, urges learning and reflection on the day meant to honor survivors of residential schools.

“Learn the truth about all those genocide policies that were created and imposed on First Nations people for the simple fact of assimilating us,” says Commanda.

“Use it as a day to reflect and to ask, why did this take place? What was the purpose? What was the reason also to reach out to our communities? Reach out to our communities. Meet the survivors. Listen to their stories.”

A national ceremony will take place at Parliament Hill with speeches, music and a carrying of a memorial cloth that bares the names of children who did not make it home from residential schools.

The ceremony will have survivors sharing their stories and the public is invited to join the journey of healing, wellness and love.

“To me as a First Nation person, as a mother, as a grandmother, and as great grandmother. Every day is Sept. 30. Every day is every child matters day. All children matter. We reflect on Sept. 30 as a most important day to honor the children, the children of residential schools, the children of day schools,” says Commanda.

The National ceremony will run from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Rideau Hall, the Canadian Museum of History, the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum and Beechwood Cemetery are also holding events to mark the day.

Beechwood Cemetery’s event will feature a 45-minute Reconciliation Tour providing education on historical figures involved in residential schools, as well as an art exhibit inside the Beechwood National Memorial Centre.

The day will also be marked with a traditional ceremony at the Children’s Sacred Forest, during which attendees are invited to remember the children that were lost during the over 150-year history of residential schooling in Canada.

“We’re the National Cemetery of Canada, so being a national cemetery, it’s important that we recognize the actors who’ve been part of the residential school program or the people who spoke out against. Across our property for 150 years, we have several different individuals, from Peter Anderson Bryce to Duncan Campbell Scott, who have all had either a negative or positive role within the indigenous populations of Canada,” says Nick McCarthy, director of marketing, communications and community outreach for Beachwood Cemetery.

This ceremony will begin at 2:00 p.m.

A look at some of the other events taking place in Ottawa tomorrow can be found here.

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