Orange Shirt Day/ Truth and Reconciliation
Sept. 30th 2026
10-1pm
Lockwood Park, Westport Ontario
featuring
DJ MKWA & MAKHENA - Photo credit: Aziz Moussa
Orange Shirt Day was inspired by Phyllis Webstad, a residential school survivor, whose new orange shirt was taken away on her first day of residential school. This story has become a powerful symbol of the experience of many indigenous children.
September 30 we will gather in Lockwood Part and remember the children who died in the Residential School System run by Canadian churches and government. We honor the survivors who still heal from the trauma and inspire us all with their courage.
We are excited to announce that to highlight celebration, revival, courage, and resilience,
Makhena; hoop dancer and her brother Caleb; DJ will be performing and sharing with local students on that day.
Photo credit: Bill Juillette
Our circle will open with greetings and thoughts from our Community helper and Knowledge Keeper Mireille LaPointe.
We are grateful to the Village of Westport for covering the costs of the artists.
About the Artist
Makhena Rankin Guerin is a Two-Spirit hoop dancer with Anishinaabe/Algonquin roots on her mother’s side and French Canadian roots on her father’s side. As a member of the Abitibiwinni First Nation, Makhena is dedicated to preserving and continuing her Indigenous culture for future generations. She has been practicing traditional hoop dance for over 7 years; a medicinal dance that tells a story. Traditionally, this dance was performed with willow branch hoops to the rhythm of traditional drums. Nowadays, dancers often use modern materials and frequently perform to contemporary music.
Hoop Dance as Medicine
Makhena uses hoop dancing to introduce the First Nation’s concept of “good medicine,” which means making choices that promote our health and well-being. She demonstrates different animal shapes that can be made with the hoops, inviting students to share what they see, raising awareness of different perceptions. A short hoop dance performance is followed by a guided dance session, during which students are invited to try a few dance steps inspired by First Nations peoples. A question period follows, time permitting.
Community Memorial
Micro Gallery
for
Murdered and Missing
Indigenous Women, Children, and Two Spirit
Join Us! Memorialized in Art
Local memorial for Missing, Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirit
BTC has joined The Canadian Library (TCL) Project https://www.thecanadianlibrary.ca/ to honour and bring attention to Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, Girls and TwoSpirit (MMIWG2S).
Our first micro gallery installation was at the Cove Inn in Westport. The second installation was in the Newboro library. Both these installations have been brought together with newly covered books, in the Portland Library.
This national project, launched in 2021, consists of communities creating an art installation together as a memorial to the 8000 murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls and 2S. The TCL project supports the building of micro galleries of books bound in Indigenous-designed textiles, with the names of those lost in gold on the spines of the bound books. Some books will remain nameless to represent those who may never have a chance to tell their story. The project, guided by Indigenous elders, reflects our shared commitment as Canadians to teach the truth about our history and move towards healing. The names that will be placed on the books have been shared by elders and families with the desire to have the stories told and the lives honoured. Our micro galleries will be displayed publicly and locally until all the micro galleries come together in a prominent place for permanent exhibition.
We invite you to sponsor the purchase of fabric, at $30/m
We invite you to host a bookbinding event and or a microgallery in your public place to honour and raise concern for those missing or murdered. We can provide posters that support the exhibition.
Please contact us to sponsor, register or host at bettertogethercircle@gmail.com
our sincere thanks to all who contribute
The Better Together Circle acknowledges that we are on the land that has been inhabited by Indigenous Peoples from the beginning. As settlers, we're grateful for the opportunity to meet, work and play here, and we thank all the generations of people stretching back in time who have taken care of this land. In particular, we gratefully acknowledge the Algonquin (Omàmìwininìwag) Anishnaabeg whose unceded territory this is. BTC is dedicated to taking action towards reconciliation and a harmonious relationship with the land.
"What we do to the land, we do to ourselves." Chief Seattle.
