THUNDER BAY – Hundreds of area residents participated in a community run on Saturday to honour the Indigenous children who were lost and the ongoing healing journey of residential school survivors and their families.
The Honouring our Children Run is an annual event that takes place on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and invites everyone to come together as a community to show support and commitment to truth, reconciliation, and healing.
The run was organized by Dilico Anishinabek Family Care in collaboration with Mazinaajim’s Children’s Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting Indigenous children and their families.
Anika Guthrie, the vice president of the board of Mazinaajim’s Children’s Foundation, said that she was proud to see how many residents came out to participate.
“I think over 300 participants today and we're here to honour the spirits of the children that attended residential school, both the survivors that are with us today and those who never made it home and their families and communities,” she said.
The 2023 run was the second annual event and featured a five-kilometre run/walk, a ten-kilometre run, a 15-kilometre run, as well as a free children’s one-kilometre fun-run, with all funds raised going to support the programming of Mazinaajim’s Children’s Foundation.
“If it's an educational pursuit or a cultural activity or recreation, you know, sometimes students or sometimes children and youth are submitting applications to dream and create and dance in their own regalia, and sometimes it's things like playing hockey,” said Guthrie.
“Whatever their dreams are, we're trying to make that happen for them and at a run like this, where we're honouring and thinking about the children who never made it home, it's a tangible way to give back to what those survivors endured by providing and supporting Indigenous children today in our community to achieve their dreams.”
To find out more about Mazinaajim’s Children’s Foundation and the work that they do, visit their website.
