Drums Across Canada returns Sunday, September 11 for a hybrid, cross-country drum circle event that will draw the Celebration of Nations gathering to a close with a collective message of unity, peace, respect, and friendship.

Drums Across Canada has paired Indigenous drumming groups from six provinces and two territories with eight different performing arts venues for the event. Drum groups will participate in a traditional call and response that will start in Niagara and travel back and forth across the country before culminating with a shared song and reflections from each drum group about their Drums Across Canada experience.

Lennox Island First Nation will participate at Confederation Centre of the Arts for the event. The public can watch their performance in-person, as well as the rest of the broadcast, at the Centre’s Outdoor Amphitheatre this Sunday at 4:30 pm AT. The event is free to attend, and seating is general admission. The event will also be streamed on YouTube.

Drums Across Canada was created by Celebration of Nations Artistic Director Michele-Elise Burnett. She says, “Our drums are incredibly powerful medicine within our Indigenous culture. This powerful circle will send out love, gratitude, and respect though our songs, our dances and our drums for residential school survivors, the children’s spirit who never made it home, MMIW2S and to our ancestors, our elders, our matriarchs, our youth, and our relatives from the natural world.”