ORANGE SHIRT DAY
Project teaches about residential schools
Phyllis Webstad was only six years old when she was taken away from her home to attend St. Joseph Mission Residential School in 1973. She had been living with her grandmother in B.C.
Money had always been tight, but somehow Webstad’s grandmother managed to find enough to buy her a new outfit for school. But when she arrived at school she was stripped of all of her possessions, including a brand new orange shirt — never to be seen again.
The story, similar to those of many First Nations people, hit a chord for Ashanti Kay, a Grade 7 student at Sacred Heart Community School.
“I would have felt like all children who wanted to go to school on the first day. I would have felt very excited, but when they got there they took away everything they ever had,” she said.
Friday, Kay joined with her classmates to wear orange shirts for the first Saskatchewan Orange Shirt Day.
Orange Shirt Day is meant to remember and acknowledge the damage done by residential schools. The idea for the day came from the story of Webstad and her orange shirt.
“It’s important to look at our history and to look back and see how we treated our First Nations children and students,” said David Magnusson, principal of Sacred Heart Community School.
The staff at the school had been taking the time to teach students about the meaning of the day beforehand. It was discussed during the daily morning assembly, and an elder came into the classrooms to talk to students about it.
“It’s great for our students to see this all. To hear about it is one thing, but to experience it is something completely different. It becomes ingrained within them. It’s an experience they value,” said Adam Ward, a Grade 8 teacher.
Ward takes time in his classes to teach about the history of residential schools.
“For a lot of our students, their families experienced this firsthand. It’s something where it’s making them aware, not so much of the negatives that have happened — they need to know that and we need to be honest about that. But about what we can do to fix it as we move forward,” he said.
In Kay’s classroom, the teachers tell the students stories about residential schools. Kay has also been reading books about the history.
“(The kids) were abused and they just didn’t like it. They just felt like they forgot everything,” she said.
Kay felt that the meaning of Orange Shirt Day is important for everyone to know.
“I want people to know what happened ... It was really rare for people to leave with good memories.”