Second annual Residential School Childrens’ Ride for Justice

More than 100 people rode their bikes to Niagara-on-the-Lake today for the Residential School Childrens’ Ride for Justice. It’s a fundraising event that began last year after the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves across Canada at former residential school sites.

Some bikers were new and others returning but they all feel it’s important to remember the children who died in residential schools. “I grew up knowing Canada to be such a positive role model in the world and to hear something like that really shook my core values so it was like to do something positive for such a negative thing that had happened in the past.”

Riders left from Hamilton, Cambridge and St. Catharines and they rode all the way to the Niagara Regional Native Centre in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Last year they held two rides and collected around $13,000. The organizer says the goal is to raise money and to make sure no one forgets.

The funds will go to the Niagara Regional Native Centre and the Indian Residential School Survivors Society.

The Indian Residential School Survivors Society has a 24-hour crisis line for survivors and those suffering generational trauma, 1-800-721-0066.