The Brock community is reminded to wear orange and to take time to reflect on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Thursday, Sept. 30.

The day honours the lost children and survivors of Canada’s residential schools, while also recognizing the school system’s tragic and painful history, and multigenerational impact. More than 150,000 Indigenous children were separated from their families and forced to attend residential schools, where various forms of abuse took place. Many of the children did not survive.

In observance of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Brock has created a website through which representatives from the University and its Indigenous communities have shared their thoughts and feelings on the day in hopes of sparking further conversations on and off campus.

The website also includes a recorded ceremonial smudging of Indigenous flags, which were lowered to half-mast while an honour song was sung; links to resources where more can be learned about residential schools; and an opening and closing statement from Peter Beaucage, an Elder from the Nipissing First Nation.

The website was created in place of an in-person gathering to ensure members of Brock’s Indigenous communities are able to spend the day of reflection with those they’re closest to.

Anyone who is on campus Thursday is invited to offer their support to Indigenous communities by posting messages of truth and reconciliation at a display in the Rankin Family Pavilion and by sending pictures of themselves wearing orange to Aboriginal Events Co-ordinator Cindy Biancaniello at cbiancaniello@brocku.ca to be shared on the Aboriginal Student Services social media platforms.

For more information on Brock’s observance of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, visit brocku.ca/Indigenous/ndtr