2024 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

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On September 30, 2024, the City of Windsor will join municipalities across Canada in marking Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Orange Shirt Day is the vision of Alkali Lake Chief Fred Robbins, a survivor of a residential school. It honours the story of Phyllis (Jack) Webstad, a former residential school student who, on her first day of residential school, had her bright new orange shirt taken away from her. It was given to her by her grandmother, and Phyllis was just six years old. The orange shirt has become a symbol of remembrance of all Indigenous children who were removed from their families to attend residential schools where their language and culture were repressed, and many children experienced abuse. The painful legacy of residential schools has had long-lasting effects on residential school survivors and their families.

The day has also been designated National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action #80. The Calls to Action offer important direction for all levels of government, institutions and all Canadians to redress the legacy of residential schools and to advance reconciliation. The Government of Canada, in 2021, declared September 30 a national statutory holiday to support a day of awareness, remembrance, and education for Indigenous people and all Canadians. The day is meant to honour survivors, their families, and communities; and to help ensure that public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process.

City of Windsor initiatives for the day

  • The “Every Child Matters” flag will fly outside City Hall from September 27 to October 1, 2024.
  • City Hall will be illuminated orange in the evenings from September 28 to October 1, 2024.
  • Staff will be encouraged to wear orange on Friday, September 27, 2024, to acknowledge the tragic legacy of residential schools, and to honour the victims, their families, and intergenerational survivors.
  • City staff will have an opportunity to participate in a Path to Reconciliation training session on Tuesday, September 24, 2024, which aims to equip participants with essential knowledge and understanding to support Indigenous reconciliation. 
  • Transit Windsor will begin tying orange ribbons to bus mirrors over the weekend so that all buses will have orange ribbons for September 30, 2024; and will program head signs on buses with #EveryChildMatters from September 28 to September 30, 2024; distribute orange ribbons for operators to wear; and share audio messages on buses recognizing the day and the significance of the ribbons on September 30, 2024. 

Museum Windsor initiatives for the day

Museum Windsor’s Chimczuk Museum and Art Windsor-Essex (AWE) will be open and offering free admission on Saturday, September 28, 2024. The Chimczuk Museum, located at 401 Riverside Drive West, includes the Original Peoples Culture and Legacy Gallery. At the north end of the main floor concourse, this space reflects the culture, heritage and contemporary issues of the local First Nations and Métis communities. It also provides an open and flexible gathering space for programming. This exhibit was developed in consultation with Walpole Island Heritage Centre, Turtle Island-Aboriginal Education Centre at the University of Windsor, Caldwell First Nation, Can-Am Indian Friendship Centre and other local community organizations. Features of the exhibition include Creation Stories, Treaties, Residential Schools and '60s Scoop, Language Revitalization, Missing and Murdered Women, Medicine Wheel Teachings, and Cultural Expressions. 

Meanwhile, Art Windsor-Essex (AWE) offers Orange Shirt Day and National Day for Truth and Reconciliation events and programming from September 27 to 30, 2024, at the gallery. Engagement opportunities include gatherings in Windsor and Amherstburg, studio workshops, and a film screening. 

Windsor Public Library initiatives for the day

All branches of the Windsor Public Library will be closed on September 30, 2024; however, displays of Indigenous content and resources will be featured at all branches and online at the Digital Branch throughout the week. Staff have prepared a video on Truth and Reconciliation, and offer the following opportunities for community engagement:

  • During the month of September, customers have been encouraged to pick up a button at Fontainebleau Branch in honour of Orange Shirt Day/National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. 
  • The week of September 23 to 27, 2024, visit the Bridgeview Branch from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. daily for a Truth and Reconciliation Video Series. Learning and honouring the truth of our history from Indigenous knowledge keepers is an important part on the path of reconciliation. Please join us at the Bridgeview Library for this daily lunch-and-learn series. We will provide reading materials and videos each day. The reading materials will be available as a Take and Learn as well.
  • Drop by Central Branch and help to make an indoor Heart Garden to honour the children and survivors affected by the residential school system. Paper hearts will be available for patrons to colour and decorate, and then mount onto a stem on the bulletin board to create a flower. This activity is available from September 16 to 30, 2024.
  • Please visit the Windsor Public Library's Events Calendar for additional information. 

Ojibway Prairie Complex

The Ojibway Prairie Complex offers a peaceful backdrop for quiet reflection. Open and accessible to the public, the City encourages everyone to find time to visit these lands and the Ojibway Nature Centre the week of September 23 to 27, 2024, and beyond. The Ojibway Prairie Complex is a collection of six closely situated natural areas within a 10-minute drive from downtown Windsor. The most striking aspect of the complex is the tremendous variety of vegetation and animal life. Wetlands, forest, savanna and prairie provide habitat for a great number of rare plants, insects, reptiles, birds and mammals. Visit www.Ojibway.ca for more information. 

Every Child Matters Walk and Community Gathering

A community-led Orange Shirt Day committee is hosting a community gathering and walk along the waterfront on Monday, September 30, 2024. The event runs from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. and includes speakers, drums, food and activities. To learn more, visit their Orange Shirt Day event page, or email WindsorOrangeShirtDay@gmail.com with any questions. 

City of Windsor Land Acknowledgment

The City of Windsor is situated on the traditional territory of the Three Fires Confederacy of First Nations, which includes the Ojibwa, the Odawa, and the Potawatomie. The City of Windsor honours all First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples and their valuable past and present contributions to this land. 

Additional ways to reflect and learn

Virtual Film Festival

This year marks the return of the Truth and Reconciliation Virtual Film Festival, which will run every day from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. and include a range of films and lectures dedicated to expanding our understanding of indigenous life, residential schools, and the importance of truth and reconciliation. Films can run from 30 to 60 minutes and include curated works from the National Film Board and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. This year's schedule includes:

September 23, 2024 - Honour to Senator Murray Sinclair

As the Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Senator Murray Sinclair was a key figure in raising global awareness of the atrocities of Canada’s residential school system. With determination, wisdom and kindness, Senator Sinclair remains steadfast in his belief that the path to actual reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people requires understanding and accepting often difficult truths about Canada’s past and present. Alanis Obomsawin shares the powerful speech the Senator gave when he accepted the WFM-Canada World Peace Award, interspersing the heartbreaking testimonies of former students imprisoned at residential schools. The honouring of Senator Sinclair reminds us to honour the lives and legacies of the tens of thousands of Indigenous children taken from their homes and cultures, and leaves us with a profound feeling of hope for a better future. Presented by the National Film Board of Canada.

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September 25, 2024 - Our Truth Our Land

Made in collaboration with the Inuit Tungavingat Nunamini, this film focuses on those dissident members of the Inuit community who rejected the agreement signed on November 11, l975, between the Northern Quebec Inuit Association, the Québec and federal governments, the James Bay Energy Corporation, the James Bay Development Corporation, Hydro-Québec and the Grand Council of the Crees, which took away Native rights to a territory of almost one million square kilometres. By their words and actions, the dissident Inuit of Povungnituk, Ivujivik and Sugluk express their strong desire to retain their land and their traditions. The filmmakers go into their homes, on the ice and the sea to record first-hand the lives of these northern people. Presented by the National Film Board of Canada.

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September 26, 2024 - Mother of Many Children

In her first feature-length documentary, released in 1977, Alanis Obomsawin honours the central place of women and mothers within Indigenous cultures. An album of Indigenous womanhood, the film portrays proud matriarchal cultures that for centuries have been pressured to adopt the standards and customs of the dominant society. Tracing the cycle of Indigenous women’s lives from birth to childhood, puberty, young adulthood, maturity and old age, the film reveals how Indigenous women have fought to regain a sense of equality, instilled cultural pride in their children and passed on their stories and language to new generations.

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September 27, 2024 - How do we address the barriers to reconciliation?

Dr. Eva Jewell and Residential School Survivor Levinia Brown will shed light on the biggest barriers to Reconciliation, the lack of progress made on the TRC’s Calls to Action, and what Canadians need to do to keep moving forward and enact change. Audience members will come away with an understanding of what is preventing progress and how, as individuals, we can take responsibility for reconciliation. Moderated by Cole Kippenhuck.

Register Here