6 Ways Toronto Is Honouring The 215 Children Who Died At A Former BC Residential School

Toronto is participating in Canada's remembrance and mourning of the 215 children whose remains were discovered at a former residential school in the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation in Kamloops, B.C.

A candlelit vigil was held at Nathan Phillips Square on Sunday, and a memorial featuring 215 pairs of children's shoes has been placed outside of Queen's Park.

Following Prime Minister Trudeau's request for all flags at federal buildings to be drawn at half-mast in remembrance of the children, Premier Doug Ford announced that Ontario's government buildings will observe the same gesture. Toronto's ceremonial flags will be lowered to half-mast for a period of 215 hours to represent each life, at the request of Mayor John Tory.

The Toronto Sign in Nathan Phillips Square was dimmed to "further recognize the loss of life and the ongoing need for truth and reconciliation," and the CN Tower also dimmed its lights for five minutes at the top of each hour on Sunday, May 30.

The TTC announced that all subway trains, buses, streetcars and wheel-trans vehicles will cease operations at 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday, June 1, for two minutes as a moment of silence for the lives lost.

Students and several advocacy groups held a sit-in on Ryerson University's campus on Monday and stayed there until 215 shoes were placed in front of the Egerton statue.

This demonstration followed an open letter issued by the university's First Nations-led research centre, the Yellowhead Institute, on May 11. It announced that participating faculty and students will now replace the school's name with 'X University' in email signatures and online in solidarity with the school's Indigenous community.