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Innisfil, ON – The Town of Innisfil and Innisfil ideaLAB & Library are honouring National Indigenous History Month and National Indigenous Peoples Day with a series of events that invite the community to learn, reflect, and celebrate together.

A Morning of Reconciliation

The community is invited to honour the summer solstice at Innisfil Beach Park on June 19 from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. with a morning of teachings, ceremony, and relationship building. Led by Kelly Lavallee from Memengwaa Healing and Sitting Turtle Healing and Consulting, participants will gather for a sunrise pipe ceremony, Sacred Fire, a strawberry pancake community breakfast, discussion, teachings, and more. Kelly is an Anishanaabe-Métis Knowledge Keeper focused on revitalizing Indigenous ways of knowing and healing.

Meet at the Lakeside Pavilion (near parking lots B and E) with a blanket or lawn chair. Learn more at innisfil.ca/NIHM.

Author Talk with Drew Hayden Taylor

Award-winning playwright, filmmaker, novelist, and journalist, Drew Hayden Taylor, will be at the Innisfil ideaLAB & Library, Lakeshore Branch, on June 21 to discuss his most recent novel, Cold. Born and raised on the Curve Lake First Nation, he has done everything from performing stand-up comedy at the Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C., to serving as Artistic Director for Canada's premiere Indigenous theatre company, Native Earth Performing Arts. Currently, the author of 36 books, Drew is the Writer in Residence for McGill University.   

Registration is required for this free event from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.

Opening of the Remembering Garden

Attend the unveiling of the Remembering Garden, a new space coming to the Library’s Lakeshore Branch to celebrate Indigenous medicinal plants and culture. The garden will be opened on June 28 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. by storyteller and cultural carrier Tasheena Sarazin from Pikwakanagan First Nation, and Tanya Gluvakov, a mixed-nation Mohawk community member with family ties to the Six Nations of the Grand River. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn more about the garden’s plants and medicines.

This project was made possible thanks to support from the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation. Everyone is welcome to this special event and ceremony, rain or shine.

Apart from attending these events, residents are invited to join special Storytimes at the Library or explore curated reading lists that honour Indigenous Peoples and stories. The Innisfil ideaLAB & Library offers free Library membership to all First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people living in Ontario, which includes access to physical materials, safe spaces and digital collections.

Visit innisfilidealab.ca for more information about these events or getting a library card.