Editor:
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is designated as an opportunity to ‘recognize and commemorate the legacy of residential schools.’ It was originally proposed in 2015 by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, which under Action 80 called upon the federal government, in collaboration with Aboriginal peoples, to establish a statutory holiday “to honour Survivors, their families, and communities, and ensure that public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process.”
You may already be aware that September 30 has been observed since 2013 as Orange Shirt Day, a movement to recognize the colonial legacy of residential schools and commit to the ongoing process of reconciliation. Orange Shirt Day recalls the experience of residential school Survivor Phyllis Webstad, who at six-years-old was stripped of her shiny new orange shirt on her first day attending the St. Joseph Mission Residential School near Williams Lake, B.C. The date of September 30 was chosen because it was the time of year when Indigenous children were removed from their families and forced to attend residential schools.
Why is it an orange shirt? The message that Phyllis wants to pass along on Orange Shirt Day — and every day — is that every child matters. Orange Shirt Day was started by Phyllis to educate people about residential schools and fight racism and bullying. Orange Shirt Day began in Williams Lake in 2013 and has since spread to schools across B.C. and Canada. (Orangeshirtday.org) Orange Shirt Day (Sept. 30) is a day when we honour the Indigenous children who were sent away to residential schools in Canada and learn more about the history of those schools.
What are residential schools? Residential schools were church-run schools where approximately 150,000 Métis, Inuit and First Nations children were sent between the 1860s and the 1990s. The schools harmed Indigenous children by removing them from their families, forcing them to speak English or French instead of their ancestral languages, disconnecting them from their culture and traditions and forcing them to adopt Christianity in order to assimilate into Canadian society. The government has since acknowledged that this approach was wrong, cruel, and ineffective, and offered an official apology to the Indigenous people of Canada in 2008.
Why is September 30 a special date? September 30 falls during the time of year when Indigenous children were taken away to residential school. The “orange shirt” in Orange Shirt Day refers to the new shirt that Phyllis Webstad was given to her by her grandmother for her first day of school at St. Joseph’s Mission residential school in British Columbia. When Phyllis got to school, they took away her clothes, including her new shirt. It was never returned. To Phyllis, the colour orange has always reminded her of her experiences at residential school and, as she has said, “how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared, and I felt like I was worth nothing. All of us little children were crying, and no one cared.”
I want to encourage all members of the North Thompson Valley communities to honour the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, whether through personal reflection, education and awareness activities, or by participating in the community event at the Dutch Lake Community Centre on Monday, September 30, 2024.
Yours in Community Spirit
Cindy Wilgosh
Executive Director for the North Thompson Aboriginal Cultural Centre Society (NTACCS)
