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Huntsville businesses display orange ribbons as reminder of tragic chapter in Canadian history

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Orange ribbons hang in the windows of several downtown Hunstville businesses, each bearing the name and date of a child who died in residential school.

"I'm very much in support of any effort to share the message and to increase the learning of that part of our history," said David McLean, owner of Soapstones Natural Skincare.

It's part of the Hope Arises project, which is now in its second year.

Joyce Jonathan Crone helped create the project after the discovery of mass graves on the grounds of former residential schools.

"We heard about the children being unearthed in Kamloops, which Indigenous people already knew, but it became real for all of Canada, so we just couldn't sit by and do nothing as mothers," said Jonathan Crone.

This week she's dropping ribbons off at local businesses to display. The ribbons are also free to anyone wishing to take one.

It's a chance to honour the children who never made it home.

"It's a beautiful remembrance, and it shows that our community is in this together," said Jonathan Crone.

She noted support for the project has been overwhelming.

"It's amazing to see, and I would want all Indigenous people who live in our community to see the ribbons and to know that we are identified here," she said.

The owner of The Great Vine, Catherine Cole, said her front window is a show of solidarity ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

"It's easy to walk by, and we think about it for a moment and we go on about our lives and this is asking us to participate in some way," said Cole.

Sept. 30 is also known as Orange Shirt Day. On that day, Jonathan Crone said ribbons would be available at River Mill Park for people to place on trees to reflect and remember.

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