Windsor Aboriginal Day celebration serves greater purpose

Windsorites gathered in MicMac Park for the city's National Aboriginal Day celebration, that featured food, prizes and performances Sunday.

The char of the event, Eric Hill, said the gathering also serves another purpose.

"If an agency is looking to do some outreach to the aboriginal community, this is a pretty good time and pretty good location to do that," said Hill.

Grace Lasala is a nurse practitioner specializing in aboriginal health.

She used the event to try and connect with new patients.

"There is a gap in the community on accessing primary health care providers, and we would like to close that gap," said Lasala.

This year's celebration came at the end of an important month for Canada's Aboriginal communities.

At the beginning of June, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its report on residential schools.

Last week, the RCMP announced that aboriginal women continue to be over represented among missing and murdered women.

Hill said the gathering was also a chance for people to talk, ask questions, and heal.

"I think those things are always on people's minds," said Hill. "If there's some discussions that occur, they may occur between friends and I think this is certainly an opportunity if somebody wants to connect with one of the service providers or if they want more information."