Indigenous Speaker Series and other ways to learn and share during the Mi’kmaw History Month
On Sept. 30, Canadian calendars were marked as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (NDTR) for the fifth time since its establishment in 2021. “The day honours the children who never returned home and Survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities,” says the Government of Canada on their website.
The history of NDTR stems from the roots planted by the former survivors of residential schools and their families, known as Orange Shirt Day. As the Orange Shirt Society posted on their website, the Orange Shirt Day is “a legacy of the St. Joseph Mission (SJM) Residential School (1891-1981) Commemoration Project and Reunion events that took place in Williams Lake, B.C., Canada, in May 2013.”
At one of the reunion events, Phyllis Webstad shared her story of getting her clothes taken away, including the orange shirt her grandmother bought her. “It had string laced up in front, and was so bright and exciting – just like I felt to be going to school,” she recalled in a story for the Orange Shirt Society. Forty years later, the same orange shirt would become a symbol for the Society and, eventually be recognized by people around Canada as the symbol for Orange Shirt Day and the NDTR.
The Orange Shirt Society explains Orange Shirt Day serves as an opportunity to “open the door” to “create meaningful discussion about the effects of residential schools and the legacy they have left behind.” They encourage all Canadians to “tune in” to the discussion and “create bridges with each other for reconciliation.” The society also emphasizes that Orange Shirt Day is “a day for survivors to be reaffirmed that they matter, and so do those that have been affected.”
Observed annually on Sept. 30, Orange Shirt Day invites global conversation on all aspects of Residential Schools. It provides an opportunity to create meaningful discussion about the effects of residential schools and the lasting impacts and consequences of these institutions. The date was chosen because it is the time of year in which children were taken from their homes to residential schools, and because it is an opportunity to set the stage for anti-racism and anti-bullying policies for the coming school year. A day for survivors to be reaffirmed that they matter, and so do those affected by residential schools. The saying “Every Child Matters”, continues to affirm that truth even as those children grow to adulthood.
Manley Liu, the First-Generation Program Coordinator at Mt. A, shared his story, illustrating the importance of education about the Indigenous, colonial, and precolonial history. Lui, who moved to Canada from Jamaica as an international student in winter of 2016, says “I didn’t learn about residential schools until I came to Canada, which is mindblowing,” Drawing on his experience as an immigrant who learned about the stories of residential school survivors, Liu said reconciliation begins with settlers understanding “what is truth” for the Indigenous peoples and recognizing “how colonizers interpret truth through their biases.” He added that settlers will need to educate themselves with information shared by Indigenous peoples, acknowledging the emotional weight carried with these experiences.
Lui concludes stating “colonizers should be creating the stage for the Indigenous folks to step on and use that platform to amplify their teachings.” He says sharing what Indigenous people are saying and doing on social media is one way to learn from Indigenous content creators and share about it with people in your community.
To read the rest of Webstad’s story and the Orange Shirt Society, visit their website at https://orangeshirtday.org.
If you would like to learn more about the vision and plans for the Mi’kmaw History Month, visit their website at https://mikmaqhistorymonth.ca. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba provided many educational resources for settlers at https://nctr.ca.