WHEREAS: The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day is observed annually on September 30th, to educate and remind Canadians about the history of Residential Schools; and
WHEREAS: From the opening of the first schools in the 1830s until the last school closed in 1996, approximately 150,000 Inuit, Métis and First Nation children were forcibly removed from their homes and sent to over 130 institutions to assimilate them into Canadian society. It is estimated that over 6,000 children died at the institutions.
WHEREAS: On this day we memorialize the children lost to the residential school system and honour Survivors, their families, and their communities; and
WHEREAS: Orange Shirt Day opens the door to global conversation on all aspects of Residential Schools – an opportunity to create meaningful discussion about the effects of Residential Schools and the legacy of intergenerational trauma they have left behind; and
WHEREAS: It is an opportunity for First Nations, local governments, schools and communities to come together in the spirit of reconciliation and hope for generations of children to come; and
WHEREAS: The Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury encourages residents to learn about the histories and cultures of the Indigenous people of Canada, particularly here in Treaty 18, the place we now call BWG; and
WHEREAS: The Town of BWG proudly raises this flag as an expression of remembrance and in honour of residential Survivors and all the lives and communities impacted by the residential school system in Canada.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: That His Worship Mayor James Leduc and Members of Council proclaim September 30, 2023, as National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbur
