Over 200 students from Huntsville Public School (HPS) marched the streets of Huntsville on Friday, September 28 to show their support for Orange Shirt Day and tell their community that the time has come for reconciliation.
Led by Kristy Brophy’s grade 5/6 class, HPS students sported orange shirts and proudly carried hand-made signs through the pouring rain that contained messages like ‘Every Child Matters’ and ‘We’re All The Same’ and ‘Honour The Children’.
“I marched to honour and show Huntsville that we care about the Indigenous people who went through residential schools,” said grade 6 student Tessa Ferguson.
Since 2013, September 30 as been recognized as Orange Shirt Day across Canada. The day got its name from Phyllis Webstad, an Indigenous woman from BC who was taken to a residential school in her early childhood. Webstad wore a new orange shirt that her grandmother had given her but it was stripped from her as soon as she entered the school.
According to Justice Murray Sinclair, Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), seven generations of children went through residential schools and were told that their lives were not as important as the lives of non-aboriginal children. They were also told that their culture, languages and practices were unimportant and that their ancestors were uncivilized.
“It was the educational system that has contributed to this problem in this country and it’s the educational system we believe is going to help us to get away from this. We need to look at the way that we educate children, we need to look at the way that we educate ourselves, we need to look at what it is our textbooks say about aboriginal people, we need to look at what it is that aboriginal people themselves are allowed to say within the educational system about their own histories,” said Sinclair in a TRC video titled “What is Reconciliation.”
According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report, which was released in December 2015, more than 150,000 Indigenous children went through Canada’s residential schools. The report notes that the TRC was able to confirm 3,201 student deaths in residential schools and that “it is probable that not all residential school deaths have been recorded.”
“We need to educate our kids on the importance of reconciliation,” said Brophy. “We need to show them that their voices matter and to always speak up for what they believe in.”
After participating in an Orange Shirt Day walk in 2017, Brophy’s grade 5/6 class made a PowerPoint presentation for a school assembly and invited other classrooms to be involved in the walk.
“The students made a presentation about what residential schools are, the harm they did to children and why we now must reconcile. They were very motivated and passionate!” said Brophy.
“It’s a very important day,” said grade 6 student Addison Wing. “All kids deserve to be treated equal.”
Making the discussion of residential schools and reconciliation part of the elementary school curriculum would open the door to a nation-wide, and even global, conversation about moving forward.
(In 2016, the previous provincial government committed to update the curriculum to teach students about the legacy of residential schools. A planned curriculum writing session in July 2018, which included TRC curriculum revisions, was cancelled by the Ministry of Education under the current provincial government.)
Related:
Disappointed with Ministry’s decision to scrap meeting with Indigenous leaders ~ Opinion
TLDSB responds to changes to sex ed and Indigenous curriculum
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Loredana Zinca says
This is super, really nice to see the children being educated that all children are the same, God made them all special, talented, beautiful, strong, smart, and capable of AMAZING things!!! All cultures and ethnicities should be honoured and appreciated, human is LIFE and LIFE is precious!! —- the most precious of all!!
Judith Munroe says
Kudos to Kristy Brophy’s grade 5/6 class for their enthusiastic participation in Orange Shirt Day. It is so import that young people and older ones are taught about the Residential Era of our Canadian History which many of us were not made aware of during our school years.
Rob Millman says
HPS is where I would choose to send my child, grand-child, or great-grand child if they only lived in the appropriate catchment area. What a progressive school! Firstly, they raised an unbelievable sum to erect an accessible playground. And now, they are inculcating the future leaders of our country with the importance of the equity of all people. And in so doing, they are showing themselves to be far more far-sighted than our current Premier. How can buck-a beer possibly be more important than nipping future prejudice in the bud?