The community is encouraged to come together for a memorial walk and gathering to honour Orange Shirt Day and National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
The Orange Shirt Day Committee is hosting the event at Ojibway Nature Centre.
This event commemorates National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and honours the children who never returned home, as well as the survivors of residential schools, their families, and communities.
The event, which is Indigenous-led, will feature a memorial walk, a speakers, drumming, and more.
Kat Pasquach, Orange Shirt Day Committee member, says the hope is for the community to reflect.
"What happens a lot with the idea of Orange Shirt Day is a lot of people now recognize it as Truth and Reconciliation, and they focus on the reconciliation part. And we often miss the part about the truth, and the truth can look like a lot of things, and sometimes that doesn't sit well with people. That's the heavy part about the day is hearing truth, hearing people's stories, and really it makes people look at themselves."
She says this all started with Orange Shirt Day.
"It sparked a movement among some Indigenous people, survivors of residential schools, and that legacy that was left behind... the intergenerational trauma. We need to be able to have open conversations and continue because that intergenerational trauma is still present in everyday lives of Indigenous people."
Pasquach says the event is Indigenous-led
"That was always the root of the events that we've had is having speakers come out. We will have stories, we will have poems being shared, and the drumming is a part of healing... we recognize the drum as a heartbeat, and it brings a lot of togetherness at an event like this."
The event will run from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Ojibway Nature Centre, located at 5200 Matchette Road in Windsor. The walk will start at 10 a.m.
Local students in the region will be attending the event.
Everyone is welcome, and participants are encouraged to bring personal drums, rattles, refillable water bottles, and lawn chairs.
The day is a federal holiday and is intended to recognize the legacy of the residential school system in Canada. The day is not considered a provincial holiday in Ontario or Quebec.