On Reconciliation Day, solemn reflection and cultural pride takes centre stage in Wortley Village

Hundreds of people gathered at Wortley Village Green on Friday for a day of dancing, song and prayer, as people from across the London, Ont., region reflected on the legacy of Canada's residential school system, paying tribute to those who survived it and the children who never returned. 

On the second National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, there was a sunrise ceremony at the site of the former Mount Elgin Residential School at Chippewa of the Thames First Nation and a new mural unveiled at the N'Amerind Friendship Centre in downtown London to commemorate the estimated 4,100 children who died or went missing from residential schools across Canada.

The biggest event in the region unfolded over the course of the day at Wortley Green, a sprawling patch of emerald grass in the heart of Wortley Village, where hundreds in orange shirts gathered in the park-like setting to take in dancing, drumming, Indigenous songs and picnic in the shade of nearby trees. 

Amid the cries of traditional singers and the aroma of burning sweetgrass, tobacco and sage, people hugged, stooped low to offer tobacco to the fire in prayer and even wept to mark an emotional day for many. 

"Today is very special. It's nice to see all these people in orange shirts. It's a very big feeling that's being brought to my heart," said Glen Henry, 58, of Chippewa of the Thames First Nation, who had the honour of tending the traditional fire throughout the duration of Friday's ceremonies. 

Henry said the ceremony at Wortley Green and its celebration of local Indigenous culture stands in sharp contrast to the historic wrongs of residential schools and official government policy to tear children from their homes and families to be "re-educated."

"Today, that we can celebrate our culture, our ways, it makes me feel good. We don't have to hide our ways anymore. We can do our medicines. We can do our healings. There is still a lot of healing we need to do and that's what we're working on — we're healing our people. So this day means a lot to me." 

The federal statutory holiday, also known as Orange Shirt Day, was established last year to remember children who died while being forced to attend residential schools, as well as those who survived and their families. 

The commemorations Friday were the culmination of a week-long effort by many city institutions to revisit the horrors of the school system and its consequences, through an outpouring of music, dance and historical displays across the city.

For Tebwaywin Miskokomon, who came to Friday's gathering at Wortley Green with her sister Tahlanna to dance before the crowd in jingle dresses, the day presented an opportunity to reflect on the past, while looking to the future. 

"Being able to be here today to dance and be our true, authentic selves as Ojibway people, it brings a lot of strength to me, being able to stand strong for my grandparents," she said.

"My great grandfather got hit in the eye for, I don't know exactly what it was for, probably for speaking his language or something. He was permanently blind for the rest of his life and I've seen him growing up have an eye patch over his eye. 

"With everything that has happened in the past, it brings a lot of healing to me for my family and my people to be proud of who we are."

For most Canadians, the tragic legacy of the country's residential school system is only a recent revelation. The last school of its kind closed in 1996 and, until the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015, their history was often glossed over and rarely taught in classrooms.