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 is partnering with Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre to present the seventh annual Indigenous Legacy Gathering at the square. 

The gathering honours 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 continues 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. 

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.

People can attend the gathering for free, the city said. 

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

The city is opening an Indigenous spirit garden on Monday in front of 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.

On Monday afternoon, the public can attend a cultural workshop 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. 

The workshop is running at 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., according to an online guide posted by the Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre.