Owen Sound Honours National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
The City of Owen Sound will observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day, on Wednesday, September 30.
The day honours the children who never returned home from residential schools, Survivors, their families and communities. It also provides an opportunity to recognize the ongoing impacts of the residential school system and to reflect on the shared responsibility to advance truth, healing and reconciliation.
Flags at City facilities will be lowered to half-mast on September 30.
The following City facilities will be closed for the day (Wednesday, September 30) to give staff an opportunity to recognize, reflect on and commemorate the legacy of residential schools or participate in a community event.
- City Hall
- Owen Sound North Grey Union Public Library
- Public Works Administration Building
- Tom Thomson Art Gallery and Owen Sound Visitor Center
Community members are invited to gather at 10 a.m. in the Gichi-Name Wiikwedong Reconciliation Garden, located at the south end of Kelso Beach at Nawash Park, for a ceremonial fire marking the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day. The garden is intended to be a contemplative place where people can pause, reflect and remember.
The City recognizes that reconciliation requires continued learning, respectful relationships and meaningful action in everything we do.
This year, the City has worked with the Saugeen Ojibway Nation Environment Office to restore and protect the culturally significant Marker Tree at Harrison Park. Restoration measures were implemented after signs of stress were observed, and interpretive signage was installed to share the tree’s story and its significance to Anishinaabek history, land-based knowledge and cultural continuity. A public dedication ceremony was held on Earth Day (April 1, 2026) and included an Indigenous ceremonial fire, drumming and a teaching.
This work builds on other City-supported reconciliation and learning initiatives, including:
- Maintaining the Gichi-Name Wiikwedong Reconciliation Garden as a place for reflection, remembrance, teaching and community gatherings. This garden is located at the south end of Kelso Beach at Nawash Park.
- Maintaining an Indigenous Reconciliation webpage on the City site designed to connect residents with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action, local Indigenous organizations, events, and additional learning resources.
- Supporting public learning through the Wiidosendiwag Walking Together Tour, developed through Indigenous and community partnerships and available in English and French.
- Using the City’s land acknowledgement to recognize the history, spirituality and culture of the Anishinaabe Peoples, as well as the Métis and Inuit those ancestors shared these lands and waters.
City of Owen Sound Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge with respect, the history, spirituality, and culture of the Anishinaabe people who consist of The People of the Three Fires known as Ojibway, Odawa, and Bodéwadmi Nations on whose traditional territories we gather and whose ancestors signed Treaties with our ancestors. We recognize also, the Metis and Inuit, whose ancestors shared this land and these waters. May we all, as Treaty People, live with respect on this land, and live in peace and friendship with all its diverse peoples.
- Mayor Ian Boddy
- The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was first observed federally in 2021.
- The day is observed annually on September 30 and coincides with Orange Shirt Day.
- The City of Owen Sound lowers flags at designated City facilities on September 30 in accordance with its half-masting protocol.
- The Gichi-Name Wiikwedong Reconciliation Garden is located at the south end of Kelso Beach at Nawash Park.
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