Flags are at half staff in several Central Lambton municipalities to mark the first Truth and Reconciliation Day in Canada.

The federal government declared the holiday for federal workers in July. It was one of the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015 and is meant to be a day for Indigenous people to remember the estimated 150,000 children who were taken from their parents to live at Indian Residential Schools across the nation.

The children were subjected to physical, mental and sexual abuse at the schools, usually at the hands of churches running the institutions for the federal government. The schools were designed to “take the Indian” out of the child.

The federal government declared the day of remembrance just a month after the bodies of 215 children were identified by ground penetrating radar at a residential school in Kamloops BC. Since then more than 6,000 additional graves have been identified.

In Petrolia, the orange Every Child Matters flag is flying today at half staffed at town hall. At night, the town will illuminate Victoria Hall in orange light as a sign of remembrance for the thousands of children who died and those who survived.

The flag is also flying at half-staffed in Plympton-Wyoming.

Warwick Township’s municipal office is closed to recognize Truth and Reconciliation day.

And in Sarnia this morning, there was a gathering at City Hall Plaza.

The day is also being marked at Bluewater Health where a recorded greeting from Chief
Chris Plain, Aamjiwnaang First Nation, about the significance of the day is available to hospital staff along with a virtual prayer and smudge from local Elder Cecil Isaac. In addition, a recording of four honour drum beats to acknowledge residential school children and their families is being played over the PA system twice today. The staff are also wearing orange shirts to remember children who were taken to residential schools.