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Sun West School Division Participates in Orange Shirt Day

On September 30th Sun West School Division supports and encourages students and staff to wear orange as their way of supporting Orange Shirt Day–an important day across Canada as it commemorates and remembers the experiences of Indigenous children who were part of Canada’s Indian Residential School System.

“It is very important that as part of the reconciliation process that students and the wider community learn about Canada’s tragic history of Indian Residential Schools. For that reason, Sun West encourages all students and staff to wear orange on September 30th, which is Orange Shirt Day in Canada,” says Randy Emmerson, Sun West Director of Education.

In addition to encouraging staff and students to wear orange and take photos, and providing educational materials, Sun West is creating awareness through an acknowledgement ceremony. “We are also showing our support for Orange Shirt Day by holding an acknowledgement ceremony with First Nations elders and knowledge holders in Rosetown the morning of September 30,” says Emmerson.

Created in 2013, Orange Shirt Day is the legacy of the St. Joseph Mission Residential School (1891-1981) Commemoration Project and Reunion events. This project was the vision of Esketemc (Alkali Lake) Chief Fred Robbins, who is a former student himself. The name Orange Shirt Day comes from spokesperson for the Reunion group and former student Phyllis (Jack) Webstad whose experience on her first day at residential school sadly conjures up painful memories. When Phyllis was just 6-years-old she was sent to St. Joseph’s where she was stripped of her shiny new orange shirt, bought for her by her grandmother, never to see it again.

September 30th was chosen to represent Orange Shirt Day because this was often the time of year when children were taken from their homes and placed in residential schools, however, it also provides the opportunity for educators to establish anti-racism and anti-bullying policies for the coming school year.

Beginning in the late 1800’s to 1996 (when the last school closed), over 130 residential schools operated in Canada during which over 150,000 First Nation, Inuit, and Métis children attended. These schools, which forcibly removed young children from their parents and communities, were government-sponsored religious schools established to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture.

Overall, students had a negative experience at residential schools. Their culture was  disparaged or scorned, they were removed from their homes and parents, and were often separated from some of their siblings, as the schools were segregated according to gender. In some cases, they were forbidden to speak their first language, even in letters home. The attempt to assimilate children began upon their arrival at the schools: their hair was cut (in the case of the boys), they were stripped and forbidden to wear their traditional clothing and, instead, given new uniforms. In many cases they were also given new names. Christian missionary staff spent a lot of time and attention on Christian practices, while at the same time they criticized or denigrated Indigenous spiritual traditions.

Abuse, both physical and sexual, within these schools were not uncommon. Poor living conditions and malnutrition meant many children became sick with preventable diseases such as tuberculosis and influenza, smallpox, measles, typhoid, diphtheria, pneumonia and whooping cough, while a large percentage did not receive enough food to eat.

Over the years, thousands of children died at the schools or, after they left due to the trauma they experienced while at school — sadly many still remain missing.

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