How Windsor is marking National Indigenous Peoples Day

National Indigenous Peoples Day is celebrated each year on June 21, this year there are multiple opportunities for community members to engage and learn about the history and culture.

For National Indigenous Peoples Day, which takes place each year on the summer solstice, the City of Windsor is offering the chance for the community to increase awareness about Indigenous history, culture and experiences with free admission to the Chimczuk Museum, online engagement with the Indigenous Storyteller for the City, and a special evening illumination of Windsor City Hall in orange on June 21.

The City of Windsor was developed on land that is the traditional territory of the Anishnabeg people of the Three Fires Confederacy (Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi).The land along the Detroit River was referred to as Waawiiyaatanong by the Indigenous population and many different groups have called the area home including: Haudenosaunee, Attawandaron (Neutral), and Huron (Wyandot) peoples.

Residents are welcome to celebrate and learn with the following activities:

Windsor Indigenous Solidarity Day:

On Tuesday, June 21, 12 to 4 p.m., at Mic Mac Park, the Can-Am Urban Native Non-Profit Homes, University of Windsor Aboriginal Education Centre, and Ska:na Family Learning Centre are putting on an event featuring entertainment and games for kids, as well as frybread tacos

Museum Windsor Exhibition and Free Admission:

Museum Windsor currently has a temporary exhibition Changing the Landscape of Windsor-Essex: The McKee Treaty’ which displays the original No. 2 Treaty, also known as the McKee Treaty, on loan from Library and Archives Canada. The treaty was negotiated between the British and the Three Fires Confederacy and Huron (Wyandot) and was signed at Detroit in 1790.

Also at the museum, guests can visit the permanent exhibition ‘The Original Peoples Culture and Legacy Gallery’ which reflects the culture, heritage, and contemporary issues of the local First Nations and Metis communities.

Theresa Sims, Indigenous Storyteller for the City of Windsor:

Knowledge keeper and Elder Theresa Sims was recently appointed Indigenous Storyteller for the City of Windsor. She has worked with the Ska:na Family Learning Centre in various capacities and fulfills requests from schools to offer opening welcome, stories, songs and dance for children as well as opening conferences for the City of Windsor and University of Windsor. Her work can be viewed online here:

2021 video of welcome, understanding and reflection

Round Dance video

Smudge tutorial

Nanaboozhoo and the Butterflies story

Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island (TWEPI)

In honour of Indigenous Peoples Day, TWEPI has compiled a list of interesting facts, attractions and points of interest in Windsor-Essex that relate to Indigenous history encouraging everyone to explore.