City of Burlington Installing Orange Crosswalk & Sweetgrass Park Sign
MY TAKE:A new Orange Crosswalk was been installed at Lakeshore Road and Nelson Avenue in honour of the children of Canada's Residential School System and those who never returned home. I want to thank all Indigenous leaders, residents and City staff who helped make this crosswalk a reality and I hope it can be a reminder of the strength and resiliency of Residential School Survivors, as well as help us all take another step further towards the path to truth and reconciliation.
• • •
*Please see below a news release issued by the City of BurlingtonThe City of Burlington is taking action to continue to recognize Truth and Reconciliation, Indigenous people and Canada’s true history. The most recent actions taken include installing the new park sign for Sweetgrass Park and orange crosswalk at Lakeshore Road and Nelson Avenue.
About Sweetgrass ParkBurlington City Council approved the name of Sweetgrass Park to rename Ryerson Park (565 Woodview Rd.) at the Jan. 18, 2022 Council meeting. Sweetgrass is one of the sacred medicines to many First Nations. It is used as a purification medicine in ceremony to purify and to heal.Residents were asked to submit names for consideration that reflected the City’s naming policies for City assets that reflect equity, diversity and inclusion consistent with today’s standards. More than 500 names were submitted.A committee made up of City staff, Indigenous leaders and community stakeholders then selected three options from the submitted names and a fourth naming option was added from Indigenous Elder Stephen Paquette (Sweetgrass Park).Ryerson Park was named after Egerton Ryerson for his contributions to the Ontario education system, however, Ryerson was also instrumental in the design of Canada’s residential school system. In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada concluded this assimilation amounted to the genocide of Indigenous people.
Orange CrosswalkThe orange crosswalk will be installed Sept. 29 in honour of the children of the residential school system. The crosswalk acknowledges the strength and survival of residential school survivors, and honours the victims, their families and communities. The crosswalk is phase one of a larger public art project that is being installed with support from a grant from the Hamilton Halton Brant Tourism Relief Fund.On Sept. 30, the Every Child Matters flag will be raised at Burlington City Hall and the Brant Street Pier will be lit orange in the evening to recognize Orange Shirt Day. On Sept. 30, Canada marks the observance of a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, following the identification of unmarked burials at former Indian Residential School sites.
“These steps are to acknowledge and start conversations about Canada’s past. Only when we work together can we learn and move forward as a community, city and country.” - Chris Glenn, Director of Recreation, Community and Culture