Lanark County Neighbours for Truth and Reconciliation

Family Violence and the Law: Training with Pamela Cross
2026-02-19 09:00 - 16:00 (America/Toronto) | Beckwith Township Municipal Office, 2022 Beckwith Park Lane, Carleton Place, Ontario, K7C 0V9, Canada
Explore family & criminal law intersections in GBV cases, challenges for survivors, and current law reforms.

This full-day training explores the intersections of family and criminal law in cases involving family violence, with a focus on understanding the big picture rather than procedural details. Participants will examine common legal challenges survivors face, including parental alienation, coercive control, publication bans, and dual or counter-charging, referencing insights from the CKW inquest.
Learn more and Register…

Red Dress Day Community Beading Workshop
2026-04-20 10:00 - 12:30 | Perth and District Union Library, 30 Herriott Street, Perth, Ontario, K7H 1T2, Canada
Red Dress Day, also known as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two-Spirit People, is observed every year on May 5.
Participants will learn how to bead a red dress pin that they can wear in support of and to spread awareness of Red Dress Day. Please note, the beaded pins take 2+ hours to complete.
This program is free and open to 14+. Materials are provided. Bring reading glasses if needed!
Donations are welcome to help cover the cost of supplies.
Space is limited. Please RSVP

Red Dress Day Ceremony
2026-05-05 17:30 | Where we gather in a good way – Ka ije Mino Negockedadiik, Indigenous Healing Circle/ Healing Forest, Last Dual Park, Perth, Ontario, Canada
Red Dress Day, observed annually on May 5th, is a national day of remembrance and activism in Canada honoring Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People (MMIWG2S+). Inspired by Métis artist Jaime Black’s REDress Project, it involves hanging red dresses in public spaces to symbolize lost lives and call for justice against gender-based violence.
Amnesty International Canada
Key Aspects of Red Dress Day:

Significance: It serves as a visual reminder of the disproportionately high rates of violence faced by Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people in Canada.
Symbolism: The color red is used because it is believed to be the only color spirits can see, acting as a link to victims and helping their spirits find their way home.
Action: Supporters wear red, hang red dresses on trees, windows, or fences, and participate in events to raise awareness and support affected families.
Origin: The day was inspired by the REDress Project art installation created by Metis artist Jaime Black in 2010.
Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Why it Matters:

Awareness: It draws attention to the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
Justice: It calls for action on the recommendations of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Remembrance: It creates a space to honour the victims and support their families

In Perth – A Red Dress Ceremony is held on May 5th at 5.30 at the Indigenous Healing Circle in Last Dual Park, Craig Street off County Road 43. The Red Dresses will be hung in the park. The Indigenous led ceremony includes drumming, a pipe ceremony and recognizing the tragedy of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous women and girls.
Please consider increasing the community awareness of the continuing crisis of the violence and numbers of Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG2S+) who go missing by wearing red on May 5th and/or hanging a Red Dress on your property.

Meadowlarks Movie
2026-06-11 19:00 | Studio Theatre Perth, 63 Gore Street East, Unit 2, Perth, Ontario, K7H 1H8, Canada
June is Indigenous History Month. Join us for a screening of Meadowlarks.
Meadowlarks is a Canadian drama film, directed by Tasha Hubbard and released in 2025. It stars Michael Greyeyes, Carmen Moore, Alex Rice, Michelle Thrush and Lorne Duquette as five Cree siblings who were separated by the Sixties Scoop, who are meeting for the first time as adults.
RESERVE YOUR FREE TICKET:
www.lanarkneighbours.ticketsplease.ca/events/meadowlarks/
There will be an opportunity to make a donation at the door.
Meadowlarks Review, by Matthew Simpson:
In Canada, we like to think of ourselves as progressive and inclusive and, relative to other nations today, we most likely are. That hasn’t always been true; our history is littered with heinous events and policies that persecuted the Indigenous peoples of this country. One of the main efforts to erase Indigenous identity and culture is known as the Sixties Scoop, an approximately four-decade period in the late Twentieth Century when government policy allowed child welfare services to ‘scoop’ children up and out of their families for the express purpose of having non-Indigenous families adopt them. We, as a nation, are still grappling with the fallout of this –and other heinous institutions like the Residential School System– on a larger cultural level. However, it can be easy to forget the very real people affected by these atrocious systems—the insidious, pervasive nature of the harm caused. Individuals, families, and whole communities are all still dealing with the scars of this state-perpetrated abuse.
Meadowlarks, co-written and directed by Tasha Hubbard, follows the siblings from one such family. Five Cree siblings were forcibly separated from their mother, and four of them (played by Michael Greyeyes, Carmen Moore, Alex Rice, and Michelle Thrush) agree to come together in Banff, nearly fifty years later, in an attempt to reconnect. It is a thoughtful film, featuring slow and affecting dialogue about lost childhoods, the effects of being denied one’s own culture, and being othered not just by the powers that be, but also by the families they were placed with.
All four of the siblings still feel the pull of their family, of each other, and the tangibility of the time they’ve lost–with each other and with their community–is heartbreaking to behold. Whether adopted as a teenager or as a baby, each has felt disconnected to their lives in different ways. Each actor gets a moment to shine in the telling of their individual life experiences, and each is, in their own way, a story of isolation and loneliness. Whether it’s the story of the sibling who spent time on the street and is now purposefully avoidant of alcohol, or the sibling who was adopted into a seemingly nice life in Europe, each of them recognizes a hole in themselves that only the others can replace.
In many ways, Meadowlarks feels like a play. There are a few locations, and lots of dialogue, but that is perhaps the point. These are stories that need to be shared, that we need to hear, based on the real-life experiences of people to whom this happened. Giving them space to do just that is a part of healing. Be it in documentary form, like Hubbard’s Birth of a Family, upon which this film is based, or here in Meadowlarks. These stories remind us that these events didn’t happen in the abstract, or in isolation, and the choice to dramatize these conversations in the present instead of re-enacting them in a period-set film helps remind us that we as a nation are still grappling with our troubled legacy.
As such, Meadowlarks joins films like Beans and series like Little Bird as essential viewing for audiences–both from Canada and elsewhere. Although there is hope to be found here, be prepared to shed some tears.
Meadowlarks screened as part of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival

Director Tasha Hubbard and stars Michelle Thrush, Alex Rice, Michael Greyeyes, Carmen Moore, Betty Ann Adam, Oskiya Tootoosis, and Lorne Duquette of MEADOWLARKS in conversation with TIFF after the WORLD PREMIERE of the film at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Birch Bark Baskets workshop
2026-06-13 09:00 - 12:00 | MERA Schoolhouse, 974 Dalhousie Concession 9A, McDonald’s Corners, Ontario, K0G 1M0, Canada
This workshop is organised by MERA. REGISTER HERE
Join John Wager to learn how to make a traditional birch bark basket, approximately 6-7 inches diameter by 3.5-4 inches tall.
In this workshop participants all start with a sheet of birchbark. You’ll use spruce root to stitch it together and add a rim.
About the instructor:
My name is John Wager, I am Michi Saagiig Anishinaabe from Curve Lake First Nation.
I make and sell craft for a living along with teaching the skills I have learned along the way in workshops.
I’ve lived in Curve Lake almost all my life and I love my community.
This whole craft thing started in college almost 8 years ago, we were handed some knives, taught how to use them and then shown how to carve and coal burn a wooden spoon but I didn’t even make a spoon that year I made a wooden knife. I ended up carving my first spoon almost a year after that and then I was not able to stop. I met people and made friends/mentors along the way that helped me get to where I am today but I’m still learning.
I carve lots of spoons but I also make Baskets, Knives, Bowls, Cups, Canoe Paddles, and even some leatherwork.
www.johnswoodenware.com @johnswoodenware

Indigenous Culture Day celebration
2026-06-21 10:00 - 13:00 | Where we gather in a good way – Ka ije Mino Negockedadiik, Indigenous Healing Circle/ Healing Forest, Last Dual Park, Perth, Ontario, Canada
Open invitation to all community, young and old, to enjoy and participate in drumming, dancing, teaching circle and a variety of crafts.
Opening ceremony will be followed by a cultural celebration in this month’s honouring of the Indigenous Peoples. Come join us as all are welcome!
• Traditional Indigenous Songs with Drumming by the Lanark Drum Circle *
• Demo dancing featuring traditional jingle dress and men’s traditional
• Teachings in circle
• Crafts to experience in tents
• Round dance
• And a small feast and giveaway
* We will have extra drums & rattles for hands-on experience
