Mayor's Statement - National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Clarence-Rockland stands with our residents from First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities on this National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day. To commemorate this day, an orange flag is flying at City Hall, and the building will be illuminated in orange tonight.  

The City of Clarence-Rockland is committed to learn from the lessons in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission final report. At our last Council meeting, we adopted the Terms of Reference for the Municipal Truth and Reconciliation Committee.  This committee will have the mandate to work with the Administration to identify potential opportunities for advancing indigenous awareness in our community, and to present them to City Council for approval.   

This is in addition to the three calls to action that the City has implemented since the report was released. For over a year, all Council meetings and municipal activities have begun with the land acknowledgement.  Some of our staff members have begun educational training on the legacy of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. We encourage them to continue their learning and will be offering more focused training in the future.  In addition, today our public library is presenting 4 story times to educate our youth about the history and heritage of Indigenouscommunities.   

At noon today, we will join other residents for the Walk of Sorrow and accompany our Indigenous neighbors to du Moulin Park for an afternoon thatfosters healing and reconciliation. I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to observe this important day.   

Meegwetch  

Mario Zanth 

Mayor