Orange Shirt Day helps parties to gather in spirit of reconciliation
DAY HELPS SCHOOLS SET ANTI-RACISM, ANTIBULLYING POLICIES
Every child matters, and on Orange Shirt Day that message rings true. Held annually on Sept. 30, Orange Shirt Day is an opportunity for First Nations, local governments, schools and communities to come together in the spirit of reconciliation and hope for generations of children to come.
Historically, Sept. 30 was chosen because it’s around the time of year where FNMI children were taken from their homes and brought to the residential schools. For Lethbridge School District 51, it’s also an opportunity to set the stage for anti-racism and anti-bullying policies for the coming school year.
Chinook High School held its Orange Shirt Day assembly on Thursday. Students gathered in the gymnasium to watch traditional First Nations dancing, learn about the importance of reconciliation, and to pick up their own specially designed orange shirt.
Many other schools across Lethbridge are holding their own Orange Shirt Day activities. Lethbridge College will hold its event today in Centre Core at 10 a.m.
Orange Shirt Day is a reminder to keep the discussion going on all aspects of residential schools and the harm they caused. It grew out of Phyllis Webstad’s story of having her new orange shirt stripped from her on her very first day of school at the St. Joseph Mission Residential school. The first commemoration event was held in Williams Lake, B.C., in the spring of 2013.
Reconciliation takes time and it is a process, said Andrea T.J. Fox, Lethbridge School District principal of First Nations, Metis and Inuit education.
“I feel that we really are at the beginning. We are in the truth part of Truth and Reconciliation because we are having the true Canadian history with First Nations acknowledged and we are looking at that and the impact it has had and continues to have especially on Indigenous people in Canada,” said Fox. “And then we are looking at how we can support students in education today, in 2017, and how can we make those changes sooner rather than later, while respecting it is a process and it is going to take time.”
Fox’s position is one newly created for the district, although she is no stranger to education. She spent the last decade teaching with the Kainai Board of Education. She’s now working with all Lethbridge public schools, principals, teachers, support staff and FNMI liaison workers to build effective relationships, collaborate and focus on student success.
Fox said she’s had some great conversations already and fielded a number of questions around how to integrate FNMI education into the curriculum.
“We’re not just talking about social studies or aboriginal studies, we’re also expanding that into the other subjects — English, science, art, music, math,” she said. “So for me, being able to support that, I’m very passionate about it.”
Questions are a great place to start, she says, because they are an opportunity for everyone to understand and expand their knowledge. This year, Fox said, more schools are talking about and becoming engaged in Orange Shirt Day and in Reconciliation.
“This is really a new time in education and it’s actually very exciting,” she said. And there has been a lot of progression in respect to FNMI education, she explained, as well as “openness, curiosity and a desire to understand and better those relationships that were historically not in a good place.”
“As teachers we have that unique position to be able to support our students while learning as well about the process,” said Fox. “I’ve been to the schools and I’ve talked to the different staff and they’re so supportive.
“That makes me, not only in my role but also as a Blackfoot First Nations woman, that makes me really happy and it makes me very hopeful that as a community in southern Alberta that we are moving in a direction that is going to take us to a very positive place and start to rebuild, repair and heal those relationships.”
Fox believes Reconciliation is the responsibility of every single Canadian, whether Indigenous or not, as we are all sharing space together on the land.
“The more that we can exchange respect with one another and come together and learn through this journey, we are really truly going to see a shift in our country as a whole,” she said. “We also couldn’t do it without those who have gone before us and our Elders. So to honour those who were residential school survivors, we think about them on Orange Shirt Day. That’s really important, and how we’re going to change the direction that we once were in.”
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