Orange shirts fill Edmonton river valley for sold-out race
Orange shirts filled Kinsmen Park Friday as runners and walkers gathered for the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.
The second annual Orange Shirt Day Run/Walk was sold out, with 28 teams taking to river valley trails in remembrance.
"It was started last year to honour and remember the children who never came home, our little ancestors that never came home," said race director Anita Cardinal. "As well as to support those who did, who deal with intergenerational traumas every day."
The annual event is a fundraiser for OrangeshirtDay.org, Bear Clan Patrol YEG and Indigenous youth scholarships.
Cardinal, a runner, said the run/walk invites people from diverse backgrounds to participate in remembering that Every Child Matters.
"Running has been a source of healing for me. Running brings people together. I call it running towards the truth," she said.
Runners could register in three distances. In addition to a 10-kilometre and a five-kilometre course, a kids race followed a 2.15 kilometre trail – in recognition of the first 215 unmarked children's graves found in Kamloops in May 2021.
At the end of the day, participants were invited to an Elder's circle, to sit and listen.
"I think that is at the heart of what this race was, to bring everybody together so that we could all come together to learn from one another," Cardinal said. "Understanding and compassion is also another way moving forward and carrying hope."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.