EVENTS SCHEDULE
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. Let your users get to know you.
TERRITORY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Canada Day in Wilmot is working with local Indigenous community leaders to help facilitate a shift, to enable true equity between Indigenous Peoples and Canadians. If we all participate in this process and build a greater understanding within ourselves, our communities, we will have great impact, and can continue to bring collective wellbeing to this land that sustains us all.
As Canadians strengthen ties with the First Peoples we acknowledge the Canada Day in Wilmot event is situated on the land of the Between the Lakes Treaty signed with the Mississauga Nation.
The other longstanding Indigenous groups of this geographic region are the Attawandaran (Neutral), Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe and Metis people.
Every Moment Matters: Honouring Canada Day in Wilmot’s Forgotten Volunteers
New Dundee, Township of Wilmot, Ontario - April 17, 2024
Since its inception in 2017, Canada Day in Wilmot has been organized by an association of local volunteers representing diverse heritages and age groups.
Unfortunately, the current volunteers have been silenced, excluded from participation, and politically expelled as Wilmot Township's Council has commandeered this cherished family-friendly rural event. Nestled amidst rolling farmland, a once heartwarming symbol of unity has now succumbed to profit-driven bureaucracy which has overshadowed the true heart of Wilmot in both celebration and sustenance - its people and volunteers.
April 14-20, 2024 is National Volunteer Week (NVW). This annual observance serves as a dedicated time to express gratitude and appreciation for the invaluable contributions made by volunteers throughout Canada.
In keeping with the theme of National Volunteer Week, 'Every Moment Matters,' the Canada Day in Wilmot volunteer organizers have decided to put aside the discussion on how things came to this point, and instead focus on the hundreds of volunteers who have selflessly dedicated their time to create lasting memories for local families, particularly for children since 2017.
Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can also use it or waste it. Once lost it can never come back.
Dear volunteers of Canada Day in Wilmot, despite recently feeling that your time and efforts have been dismissed we are forever grateful to you no matter the tasks you volunteered to assist with. We and many members of the community appreciate the sharing of your valuable time, skills, empathy, and creativity. We want to let you know that we see you and acknowledge how essential you are to our community's inclusivity, strength, and well-being within Canada.
We hope that your volunteer experience with Canada Day in Wilmot was a positive one, contributing to the forging of meaningful relationships while working together towards common goals, and fostering a strong sense of belonging.
As a past volunteer organizer recently wrote, ‘Canada Day is a day filled with diverse celebrations, commemorating a moment when several independent provinces initially joined together to form a unified nation. Beyond the festivities in the spirit of unity, we also remember those who paved the way while recognizing with humility past injustices that got us here. If unity lies at the heart of Canada Day, then it becomes our duty to foster respect for all cultures that share this land.’
Please know that you exemplify the spirit of volunteerism in Canada and you’ve inspired positive change within our little corner of the world.
You made magic happen and no one can take that away from you. THANK YOU!
Angie Hallman,
Lead Volunteer Co-organizer, Canada Day in Wilmot
ABOUT
Canada Day in Wilmot is a children-friendly family-focused not-for-profit single-day festival organized by a volunteer association of community members celebrating the shared values of this country and its diverse communities – friendship, integrity, hard work, compassion, respect, and inclusion.
The day is designed to foster these core values through fun, educational and entertaining family-friendly activities while supporting local businesses, artists and our community partners.
With community support, though public donations and corporate partners the committee endeavors to make this a self-sustaining annual event for many years to come.
