Orange Shirt Day shares message that Every Child Matters

While this is thought of as something that happened long ago, the last residential school closed in 1996.

Local school division students and staff are wearing their orange shirts today to show their respect and to raise awareness.

There are also classroom activities and learning with art projects, videos, and research.

Raevon Gehring is the First Nations, Metis, Inuit (FNMI) coordinator with Medicine Hat Catholic.

She says commemorating this day leads the way for more conversation around anti-racism and anti-bullying.

Gehring says the history of Canadian residential schools is being taught more in the classroom and is being developed in the curriculum.

Student at Mother Teresa School works on Orange Shirt Day project (photo courtesy Ross Lavigne)

She says grade fours touch on the subject and the learning continues as students get older.

Gehring says it’s nice to see that students have a baseline of knowledge when they come into the older grades.

“It’s developing those questions that we really need to answer. It’s not only acknowledging, but it’s building the empathy around the whole concept of residential schools in Canadian history. And so just building that awareness around it, we’re growing these young minds into advocacy for anti-bullying, residential school trauma, and all those kinds of things, and it’s really great to see.”

Gehring adds it’s great to see that development grow in the community, “It’s really important to me being First Nations, and seeing the community being supportive of such a great cause.”

The Miywasin Friendship Centre is hosting an Orange Shirt Day event in honour of residential school survivors.

It’s on from 5-7 PM tonight (Sept.30) at the band shell in Kin Coulee Park.

The evening will begin with a drum song.

Everyone is welcome, and they ask to bring a lawn chair and a warm blanket.

Program Coordinator Brenda Mercer says they will have people speaking about their time in residential school.

“I think it’s really important that we acknowledge residential school and it’s affects and how it still affects generations now. I think they will be sharing their own experiences. Most of them are not good experiences, so this could be a really heavy day for both participants and the speakers themselves,” Mercer said.

She believes awareness is also important, “And I see now more teachers are bringing that awareness into the classroom with their students and starting at an early age which is really good.”

The Saamis Tepee will also be lit up in red tonight until October 7 for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

by Chantal Wagner

Orange Shirt Day shares message that Every Child Matters

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