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Ceremony planned in Bancroft to mark Truth & Reconciliation Day

Members and supporters of local Indigenous communities are getting ready for an emotional day Friday. 

September 30 marks National Truth and Reconciliation Day. It honours those who survived or never returned home from residential schools.  

Early Friday, two members of the Algonquin Inodewiziwin community are expected to walk through downtown Bancroft and smudge the air.

That part of the day is not meant for public spectacle. Rather it’s to cleanse the air and get the community spiritually ready for the public gathering at 10 a.m. at Millennium Park. That event will feature songs, drumming, and a moment of silence.

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Noreen Tinney, an Algonquin Inodewiziwin Elder involved in the event, says the horrors of residential schools are still felt by people today.  Some of these schools operated into the 1990s. They took Indigenous children and stripped them of their culture 

“That trauma is felt today,” Tinney said. “Even for people like me, none of my family were sent to a residential school, it still strikes a chord. It’s a cellular memory that I think most Indigenous people can feel it.” 

Sept. 30 is now recognized as a statutory holiday for some, but Tinney asks people to not see it as just a day off work. It’s an opportunity for them to learn more about Canada’s past and confront its mistreatment of Indigenous people. 

“We have to talk about those dark places,” she said. “We have to acknowledge that it existed and it happened and caused trauma for generations. If we’re talking about, the next steps are ensuring it’s not continuing to happen.” 

Several school groups are expected to attend Friday’s ceremony. And people are encouraged to wear orange T-shirts, which mark the Every Child Matters Movement.

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