Niagara Falls to be illuminated in orange in honour of residential school victims

Niagara Falls will light up in orange tonight in honour of the 751 unmarked graves discovered at the site of a former residential school earlier this week.  

The Niagara Falls Illumination Board will be illuminating both the Canadian Horseshoe and American Falls on Friday night, from 10:15 to 11:15 p.m., following the tragic discovery at the Marieval residential school in Saskatchewan.

Niagara Falls will be lit #orange Friday night 10:15 PM EST #solidarity: #Residentialschools are being investigated in #Canada and the #USA over 1,000 #unmarked #graves have already been discovered.These tragedies are not in the distant past Photo Kateri Capton-Serpas @Pontifex pic.twitter.com/P9KJO6mxj2

— ann marie (@annmarie309) June 25, 2021

The falls were previously illuminated in orange on May 30 in memory of the 215 Indigenous children discovered in a mass grave at a former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia.

"With the possibility that more of these tragic discoveries may occur in the weeks and months ahead, the Niagara Falls Illumination Board is exploring options to best recognize and honour the victims moving forward," says the board.

Meanwhile, in Toronto, the CN Tower will also light up in orange on July 1 in solidarity with Indigenous communities in mourning across Canada.

On July 1, the #CNTower will be lit orange in solidarity with and in support of Indigenous communities across Canada https://t.co/98PPSyznsH

— CN Tower / Tour CN (@TourCNTower) June 24, 2021

This comes amid growing calls for Canada Day celebrations to be cancelled altogether in light of these horrific discoveries and for July 1 to instead serve as a day to reflect on the shameful history of the residential school system.