Preparations are underway around Regina, ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

At The Gathering Place, t-shirts were being sold on Monday and Tuesday to raise funds for programs and services offered to the Indigenous community.

“We have a lot of people that are survivors from residential schools that participate in our programming,” said Regina Treaty Status Indian Services Executive Director Natasha Kennedy. “It just allows for us to continue to develop the programming, providing some of that spiritual and emotional support that we know that would be needed during this time, as well as the mental health therapists on staff as well.”

On Monday, Kennedy said they sold around 60 shirts to the community.

Some of those shirts may be worn on Wednesday at events like The Truth and Reconciliation Honour Walk, hosted by The Circle Project.

It’s the sixth year that the walk has happened in Regina, since The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation started in 2021.

“Thankfully, we’ve been able to shine a bright enough light on it that pretty much everybody has heard the words ‘truth and reconciliation,” said executive director Ann Perry. “Everyone has some familiarity with it, which is a pretty phenomenal occurrence when you consider that’s only been six years.”

Perry said it’s also a good opportunity to continue to teach the younger generation on the history who may be attending for the first time.

“They may not completely understand the calls to action, they may not truly understand reconciliation, but they start hearing the words. and that’s what’s important,” she said. “Once you hear the words, they begin to mean something and take on its own dimension and its own life.”

The walk has grown from around 100 participants in 2021, to about 1,000 recorded last year. Perry is expecting similar numbers this year

“Seeing the hundreds and hundreds of people walking in unison and walking together for a single purpose is pretty powerful,” she said.

The walk will start at 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning. It is one of several events being held in and around the city to honour residential school survivors, and those who never made it home.