National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a new federal holiday to be observed on September 30 each year. This holiday will commemorate the tragic legacy of residential schools in Canada, acknowledging the harm done to Indigenous Peoples. This is a day to reflect and honour survivors, ensuring they are never forgotten.
Although Centre for Skills remains open on this day, there are many ways we will partake in the commemoration of this day and show our support. Staff, students and volunteers are invited to wear orange on September 30th, which symbolizes how the residential school system took away the indigenous identities of its students.
The Orange Shirt Day movement began from the story of Phyllis Webstad from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation. In 1973, on her first day at St. Joseph’s Residential School in Williams Lake, BC, the orange shirt her granny bought for her for her first day of school was stripped from her. Forty years later, on September 30th, 2013, Phyllis spoke publicly for the first time about her experience, and from there, Orange Shirt Day began.
You can learn more about the Orange Shirt Day and the origins of this initiative here: About Us (orangeshirtday.org)
This CBC article to suggests 10 simple actions you can take, either as individuals or as a team, to learn more about reconciliation: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/community/personal-acts-reconciliation-1.4687405.
"Remember Me: A National Day of Remembrance" is a public event in Ottawa that will be livestreamed on September 30. The agenda for the ceremony and the link to the livestream can be found via this website: https://remember-me-september-30.org/.
Here are links to few websites we can start to explore in attempt to learn, to understand;
To recognize the significance of this holiday, as an organization we will take a moment of silence on September 30th, 2021 at 2:15pm. 215 refers to the number of unmarked graves found at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., earlier this year.
The Leadership Team