The Town of Okotoks will be hosting a Pipe Ceremony as part of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is intended to honour and pay respect to the victims, survivors, and those who have been affected by the residential school system.
"On September 30th, the Town of Okotoks, we're going to be hosting a Pipe Ceremony that will be run by two Blackfoot elders from the Piikani First Nation," explains the Town of Okotoks Indigenous Relations Advisor, Desmond Jackson.
Jackson adds that everyone is invited to the Pipe Ceremony, whether or not they are part of the community in Okotoks.
"You do not have to be Indigenous or First Nations, you can come and support and stand in solidarity with all the First Nations people, Indigenous people."
Mayor Thorn has become the custodian of several Indigenous items, such as a pipe.
"What will be happening, is we will be filling the pipe and presenting the pipe to the ceremonialist to ask for prayers for our community, for our young people, for everybody in and outside our community for the survivors for the victims and all those families who have and continue to be affected by the residential school system, for the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. That's what the purpose of the ceremony is, is to offer prayers and to ask the Creator for help."
As part of the ceremony, people are able to bring offerings to place on the monument at the memorial site.
"What an offering is, is it can be anything, really. You often see them in cloth form, in shirts. Anything that has a spiritual significance, you can place as an offering," Jackson says. "You're just basically asking that higher power for help for whatever you need help with, and you are making an offering."
Jackson adds that anyone can bring an offering to the memorial site at any time.
The ceremony begins at 10 a.m., behind Bow Valley College at the Memorial Site for Residential School Victims and Survivors and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
To be in alignment with Blackfoot oral protocol, Desmond is reminding people to not record or photograph the ceremony.
September 30th is also Orange Shirt Day.
If the weather is too bad on Monday, the Pipe Ceremony will head indoors and be held in the Council Chambers.
To learn more about the day, head over to the Town of Okotoks website.