Toronto ceremonies honour courage of residential school survivors

Toronto continued a weekend of programming to commemorate the fourth National Day of Truth and Reconciliation on Monday with a sunrise ceremony at Nathan Phillips Square.

The city partnered with Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre to present the seventh annual Indigenous Legacy Gathering at the square.

The gathering honoured residential school survivors, their children and communities through activities including workshops, presentations, stories and performances, according to the city's website. It began on Friday and continued on through Monday.

"I want to recognize ... the courage of the survivors, who carried their childhood wounds into their adult lives and have lived to tell the truth to this day," residential school survivor Michael Cheena said during a speech at the gathering on Monday morning.

The residential school system was "a national crime and a national secret," Cheena said.

"That Canadian flag is a symbol of prosperity and pluralism, and also of Indigenous oppression and racial injustice," he said.

Michael Cheena was one of many residential school survivors to speak at Monday's event. (Paul Smith/CBC)

Several residential school survivors spoke on Monday morning. Many held up photographs of siblings and friends who were also survivors and had since passed away.

Flags at city hall, civic centres and other city facilities were lowered to half-mast on Monday, according to the city's website.

Free workshops on teaching lodge, teepee design 

The city also opened an Indigenous spirit garden on Monday outside city hall.

"The spirit garden is there to remind us of the residential schools [and] the children that have been lost, but [also to] ... remind us that that spirit needs to be there as we seek to, every day, work for justice, truth and reconciliation," said Mayor Olivia Chow, who attended the sunrise ceremony on Monday.

As its centrepiece, the garden has a large turtle sculpture made of limestone. Elements that represent First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultures surround the turtle and include a teaching lodge, a silver voyageur canoe and an inukshuk made out of granite.

The spirit garden in Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square includes a teaching lodge. The public can attend a workshop in the afternoon to learn about the design and building of traditional teaching lodges. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

On Monday afternoon, there are public cultural workshops at Nathan Phillips Square on the design and building of traditional teaching lodges. John Keeshig Mayawaasige, a knowledge keeper, will host and guide the design of the teaching lodge inside the spirit garden.

One workshop was hosted at 1:30 p.m. and another will happen at 4:30 p.m., according to an online guide posted by the Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre.

All workshops are on a first-come, first-served basis, the guide says.

There was also a workshop on teepee design and its historical usage at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Attendees had the chance to craft their own personal teepee that they can take home with them.

Another workshop is focused on how to make sweetgrass medicine mist. Hosted by Roots + Raven, an Indigenous woman-owned bath and body care brand, the workshop was hosted at 11:30 a.m. and will happen again at 4 p.m.

Performances on Monday kicked off at 1 p.m. with the Manitou Mkwa Singers, a family hand drum group from the Mississaugas of the Credit.

The square is also hosting a marketplace of Indigenous artists and artisans, featuring crafts, jewellery, clothing and paintings.

'Finally the truth has risen'

Tuscarora and Seneca Nation artist Raymond Skye created the Three Sisters Panel, displayed in the spirit garden.

In a speech at the gathering on Monday, he said he has been thinking about his father and his aunts, who were all residential school survivors.

Tuscarora and Seneca Nation artist Raymond Skye created the Three Sisters Panel, which is displayed in the spirit garden. In a speech Monday, he said he has been thinking about his father and aunts, who were all residential school survivors. (Paul Smith/CBC)

He said he has also been thinking about the children who didn't make it home from the schools and what they would say today.

"They'd probably be saying to us, we've been waiting a long time, and finally the truth has risen," he said.

"And with that truth, we can now go home. We can all go home."

Students highlight calls to action

Students in the city had an opportunity to reflect on that truth and look forward to a better future through youth-led programming Monday.

Students in the city also took part in special programming as part of the day. At the Toronto District School Board's (TDSB) R.H. King Academy in Scarborough, students taking a Grade 11 English class on contemporary First Nations, Métis and Inuit literary voices shared what they'd learned with their classmates through posters, banners and pamphlets.

Another group of Grade 11 students, taking part in an Indigenous studies course, shared presentations they'd created about the 94 calls to action put forward by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015.

Student Athviha Basanthan focused hers on number 23, which calls for an increase in Indigenous health-care professions and cultural competency training for all health-care professionals.

Students at R.H. King Academy in Scarborough got to learn about truth and reconciliation from their classmates on Monday. (Joe Fiorino/CBC)

"I like this class because I'm able to learn more about Canada's history and how we really came to be," Basanthan said.

Teacher Katie Warriner said it was important students lead the day's programming because they are the future of Canada.

"They're turning 18 next year and they are voting next year. They are deciding how they want to impact society," she said.

"I think being aware of the calls to action and being aware of the real meaning of this day can allow them to carry that forward into their adult lives."