It was a full house, with everyone in orange shirts, at the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre (FENFC) on Tuesday for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Kicking off at 6 a.m. ET with a sunrise ceremony followed by a sweat lodge, the event was held to honour survivors of residential schools, their families and the children who never returned home.

It was attended by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people from the Fort Erie area in the Niagara Region.

A healing song was performed by FENFC staff Chris Shawanoo and Dylan Ritchie. The pair help run Kizhaay Anishinaabe Niin, a program that engages Indigenous men in the effort to end violence against Indigenous women. means 'I am a kind man' in Anishinaabemowin.

Woodland Cultural Centre, ex-residential school turned museum, draws hundre

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