Annual Light It Up! For NDEAM
QUICK LINKS:
Submit locations | PR Kit | 2024 Event Highlights Video | Final list of 2024 locations | List of 2025 locations | Photo gallery | Event history | 2024 Kick-Off Webinar recording | Light It Up! For NDEAM Ambassadors League | Frequently Asked Questions
Join the Light It Up! For NDEAM national movement!
Be part of the disability awareness raising in 2025
Light It Up! For NDEAMTM is the main event of ODEN’s annual National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) campaign. It spotlights the many ways people who have a disability contribute to businesses and their communities, helping companies be successful and competitive. It recognizes and raises awareness about the importance of disability-inclusive hiring, and disability inclusion in business, in employment and in our communities.
This nationwide event happens the third Thursday of every October.
But Light It Up! For NDEAM is more than a night; more than a lighting event. It has evolved from being an “awareness” lighting event to being a national movement that sparks ongoing engagement and conversation about disability-inclusive hiring between job seekers, families, community organizations, businesses and local governments, all across Canada.
There’s no other event quite like this one during NDEAM! Involvement in Light It Up! For NDEAM has grown exponentially every year since it started in 2020. The scope of Light It Up! For NDEAM makes this annual national disability-awareness lighting event unique in North America. See the full list of 2024 participating locations here.
The Ontario Disability Employment Network started, owns and leads Light It Up! For NDEAM. But it happens on such an expansive scale with:
- Collaboration between ODEN, the Canadian Association for Supported Employment, MentorAbility Canada, Jobs Ability Canada, and many other provincial, regional and community-based organizations in the disability-employment sector
- The participation of the federal government; some provincial governments; and many municipal governments across Canada
It’s this collective effort that makes Light It Up! For NDEAM happen in big cities, small towns and rural communities from coast, to coast to coast. Each year, you can get involved in your community to Light It Up! For NDEAM purple and blue, for one unique night. The more the participation, the greater the impact. Every participating location represents a conversation about disability-inclusive hiring that has happened.
The path to equitable employment for people who have a disability is still fraught with barriers including attitudes about disability that stem from common myths and misconceptions, and a lack of awareness. This is why Light It Up! For NDEAM is so important.
Light It Up! For NDEAM 2024 was a record-smashing, history-making success
Well over 800 locations in 200 communities across Canada illuminated purple and blue!
See the final list of communities and locations that participated in 2024
Mark your calendar — get ready now for Light It Up! For NDEAM 2025!
Thursday, October 16, 2025
Mark your calendar now and save the date for the Light It Up! For NDEAM 2025 national kick-off webinar!
Registration opens in Spring 2025!
Join us at this national webinar!
Thursday, June 26, 1 p.m. ET on Zoom
Get all the details about how you and your organization or business can be part of this:
- Coast-to-coast collaboration that lights up the nation purple and blue for one night
- Movement that sparks continuing conversation about disability inclusion in business, in employment and in our communities
There’s no other event like Light It Up! For NDEAM during National Disability Employment Awareness Month!
Join in the webinar…and in the excitement!
2025 Participating Locations and Communities
April 8 update — 46 locations in 32 cities and towns across Canada
Join the movement. There’s no event quite like this one during National Disability Employment Awareness Month! These are the towns/cities and locations that have confirmed they’re participating in 2025:
NEWFOUNDLAND and LABRADOR — 2 locations | 1 community
St. John’s
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador — Confederation Building
City of St. John’s — City Hall
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND — 2 locations | 2 communities
Charlottetown
City of Charlottetown — City Hall Clock Tower
Summerside
City of Summerside — City Hall
NOVA SCOTIA — 6 locations | 5 communities
Antigonish
Nova Scotia Works Career Connections Office
Guysborough
Nova Scotia Works Career Connections Office
Halifax
Government of Nova Scotia — House of Assembly
Halifax Seaport District
New Glasgow
Nova Scotia Works Career Connections Office
Sydney (Cape Breton)
Port of Sydney — The Big Fiddle
NEW BRUNSWICK — 4 locations | 1 community
Moncton
City Hall
Downing Street
Downtown Place
Avenir Centre
ONTARIO — 21 locations | 14 communities
Belleville
City of Belleville — Belleville Signature Sign
City of Belleville — Bridge Street Bridge
City of Belleville — Fire Station #1 Memorial
Brampton
City of Brampton — City Hall Clock Tower
Burlington
Brant Street Pier
Cornwall
City of Cornwall — Lights at Fountain
Seaway International Bridge Pier
Fort Erie
Peace Bridge
Hamilton
City of Hamilton — Hamilton City Hall
City of Hamilton Signature Sign
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum — CF-104 Starfighter
London
RBC Place London
City of London — City Hall
City of London — J.A. Taylor Building
Midland
Town of Midland — Town Hall Garden
Mississauga
City of Mississauga — City Hall Clock Tower
Newmarket
Regional Municipality of York — York Region Administration Building Clock Tower
North Bay
Canadore College
Oakville
Town of Oakville — Town Hall
Vaughan
City of Vaughan — City Hall
Woodstock
Crafty Corner Tea Room
ALBERTA — 2 locations | 2 communities
Calgary
Calgary Tower
Red Deer
City Hall
BRITISH COLUMBIA — 9 locations | 6 communities
Burnaby
City of Burnaby — City Hall
City of Burnaby — BC Parkway (The Guideway)
Delta
City of Delta — City Hall
Ladysmith
Town Hall
Ladysmith Signature Sign — Bob Stuart Park
Ladysmith Signature Sign — 1st Avenue
Nanaimo
The Bastion
Port Moody
City of Port Moody — City Hall Dome
Whistler
Fitzsimmons Covered Bridge
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES — 1 location | 1 community
Yellowknife
Territorial Government of NWT — NWT Legislative Assembly Dome
Participating in Light It Up! For NDEAM is easy
We make it easy to get involved. The Light It Up! For NDEAM PR Kit has all the resources you need to learn about the event, spread the word about it, submit lighting requests and show your support by wearing purple and blue the day of Light It Up! for NDEAM.
The full Light It Up! For NDEAM PR Kit is available (in English and French) starting in late June of each calendar year, when we officially kick off Light It Up! For NDEAM for the year.
Be proactive. The more engagement, the greater the impact of Light It Up! For NDEAM.
Go ahead. Get a conversation started. If you want to be proactive and start engaging businesses and local governments now about getting involved in the Light It Up! For NDEAM movement, you can use this lighting request template (English version | French version) to reach out to them.
And you can watch and share this Light It Up! For NDEAM highlights video to start conversations and generating excitement in your community, now!
Our FAQs page answers a few key questions about how Light It Up! For NDEAM works.
Want to start submitting locations, or confirmation your participation in Light It Up! For NDEAM 2025 now?
Send an email to lightitup@odenetwork.com and include **Light It Up! For NDEAM 2025 Submission** in the subject line.
You can also use our Light It Up! For NDEAM 2025 online Location Submission Form (up to 10 locations in one form).
A Brief History of Light It Up! For NDEAM
2020
- In 16 cities all over Ontario, 28 buildings, bridges, landmarks and municipal signs shone purple and blue for one night (Thursday, October 22). Some businesses in St. John’s, NL, also participated.
- First-ever, Ontario wide event of its kind during National Disability Employment Awareness Month
2021
- The first national Light It Up! For NDEAM
- Across Canada, over 300 locations across all 10 provinces and in two territories, shone purple and blue on Thursday, October 21
- The federal governement participated, illuminating 35 federal buildings nationwide
- Through Light It Up! For NDEAM, National Disability Employment Awareness Month was officially recognized for the first time in some regions of the country.
- Nationwide, the event sparked conversation about the business benefits and economic importance of disability-inclusive hiring.
2022
- Second national Light It Up! For NDEAM
- Evolution from a lighting event to a movement about disability inclusion in business and employment
- Federal government participated, illuminating 36 federal department buildings across Canada
- Government of Ontario participates for the first time, illuminating five buildings, in Peterborough, St. Catharines, Toronto, Orillia and Guelph
- Record participation — almost 440 locations in almost 120 communities nationwide
2023
- Fourth annual event
- Third national Light It Up! For NDEAM
- Unprecedented participation across Canada — almost 700 locations (641) illuminated in almost 150 communities (147)
- 45 federal buildings nationwide lit purple and blue — the highest number since federal involvement began in 2021
- Some significant firsts, including the City of Brantford, ON, unveiling a new city-hall lighting system by illuminating purple and blue for Light It Up! For NDEAM
- In Toronto, Light It Up! For NDEAM becomes the first-ever cause lighting event recognized by Humber Polytechnic — the college invests in a new exterior lighting system for its Student Welcome Centre, and illuminates purple and blue for the event
2024
- Fifth annual event
- History-making participation, in every province and territory — over 800 locations (833) in almost 200 communities (199)
- 49 federal buildings nationwide lit purple and blue — the most since federal involvement began in 2021
- Seven provincial governments participated (legislative assemblies, Lieutenant-Governor’s Residences or other government buildings illuminated) — 21 buildings nationwide, including 13 in Ontario. Participating provinces: Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, British Columbia
- 83 municipalities nationwide illuminated 95 municipal buildings or other structures; town/city halls; or signature signs
- Owen Sound, ON-based Bright Shores Health Care System became the first hospital system to participate, illuminating its entire hospital system (six hospitals plus a Wellness and Recovery Centre) purple and blue
Light It Up! For NDEAM Photo & Video Gallery
From the Terry Fox Memorial at Mile Zero in St. John’s, to the Vancouver Convention Centre on the West Coast, we’ve put together a collection of some of the best images of structures and landmarks around the country that have illuminated purple and blue for Light It Up! For NDEAM.
Visit the gallery
Watch and share these Light It Up! For NDEAM highlights videos:
- National highlights (2024)
- National highlights (2022)
- Atlantic Canada highlights (2021)
- Ontario highlights (2021)
- Western Canada highlights (2021)
