Lily Pollock and Chloé Boulianne
Imagine being taken away from your family when only 6 years old, being stripped of your identity, culture and family. As you were probably aware, it was Orange Shirt Day last week. But do you know the origins of "Every Child Matters"?
You may be wondering what Orange Shirt Day is. It recognises the injustice of what the Indigenous peoples went through. They have been suffering for more than a hundred years due to the Governments' and Church's assimilation policies, but in recent years, the truth of what happened began to be known. Orange Shirt Day started on a smaller scale in 2013, yet has grown into the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which occurs every September 30th.
The colour of the shirts worn on September 30th symbolises the beautiful orange shirt that was taken from Phyllis Webstad in the year 1973. This is just one example of how the workers at the residential schools treated Young Native American children, taking away everything that was important to them. This is one of the less gruesome stories.
We interviewed Ms. Judith Munger, our very own Galt librarian, for her thoughts on Truth and Reconciliation month. She wants people to know about Orange Shirt Day. When she was younger, she knew nothing of the Residential School system and it was left out of her history books. She only found out about Canada's real past when she was older. She watched documentaries about the horrors that Canada forced upon Indigenous children, and their families, which brought her to tears. She wants the younger generations to know about Orange Shirt Day to be aware of this part of Canada’s past.
As you can see, Orange Shirt Day isn’t just about the stolen orange shirt. It's about the history and culture that was taken away from the Indigenous people which is finally being recognized. So don’t just talk about Orange Shirt Day, and Indigenous culture during the month of September, but in every month of the year. Inform yourself about the topic so this part of our history is made known, which is a first step towards reconciliation.
Did you know…
There were 139 residential schools in Canada and the last one closed only in 1996. That's around 150,000 kids taken away from their homes! How do you feel about that?
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