schools, as told by northern singers, writers, drummers, and other artists. All the performers had been affected directly by the residential school experience.
- A fashion show with designers from across the Arctic, featuring traditional styles, motifs, and materials.
- A talent show that brought drums, harmonicas, fiddles, songs, and voices to the stage for an evening of laughter, sharing, and inspiration.
During the closing ceremonies, the mayor of Inuvik, Denny Rodgers, announced the town would commemorate the Northern National Event by preserving the Sacred Fire site as a permanent memorial. The Survivor Committee gathered ashes from the Sacred Fire, to be carried on to the Atlantic National Event in Halifax, in October 2011.
Community Events
The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement also mandates organizing and supporting community events. These events are to be designed by communities, and respond to the needs of the former students, their families, and those affected by the schools. In many cases, representatives of the churches that were involved in running the schools have participated in these events.
These events can provide people with an opportunity to share their residential school experience with the Commissioners and/or a statement gatherer. Communities also have a chance to offer gestures of reconciliation that are representative of the community, and to showcase the ways in which they have begun the work of reconciliation. To help communities prepare such events, the Commission has developed a Community Events Guide.
