The Timmins Native Friendship Centre (TNFC) will be holding a walk on Friday, Sept. 29 in honour of Orange Shirt Day.
“Everyone is invited to join on Orange Shirt Day in Timmins this Friday, September 29 at 10:30 a.m. in front of the Timmins Native Friendship Centre,” said Heather Murray of TNFC.
Participants in the walk will be wearing orange shirts to honour survivors and victims of the residential school system, which for many years took First Nations, Inuit and Metis children to schools like the St. Joseph Mission Residential School in Williams Lake, B.C.
Phyllis Webstad, age six, went to her first day of school as a Grade 1 student at St. Joseph’s wearing a bright orange shirt that was bought for her by her grandmother.
No sooner had young Phyllis arrived at the school, when school officials stripped her of her orange shirt and dressed her in drab clothing. At times she saw the orange shirt worn by other school children, but she was never allowed to wear it, and it was never returned to her.
Orange Shirt Day has become a symbolic reminder of the losses experienced by survivors of Canada’s residential school system over several generations – losses of family, culture, language, freedom, parenting and self-esteem.
Orange Shirt Day will be observed in Timmins on Friday, Sept. 29 and across Canada on Sept. 30.
“The people who show up for the walk will get an orange shirt and at 11 a.m. we will walk with a police escort from the TNFC east along Kirby to Pine Street South north to Third Avenue, west to Mount Joy, south to Kirby Avenue and back to the TFNC,” Heather Murray said.
A lunch will be held at TFNC, where a former residential school survivor will speak about their experience and the impact it had on them.
Earlier in the week, Mayor Steve Black proclaimed Sept. 30 as Orange Shirt Day.
“On behalf of the city of Timmins, I hereby declare Sept. 30, 2017 as Orange Shirt Day for the City of Timmins,” he declared before members of the Timmins Native Friendship Centre, Timmins Police Services, Misiway Community Health Centre and representatives of the English Catholic and French Catholic School Boards.
“Each and every day we are trying to strengthen our relationship with our First Nations community in Timmins,” said Mayor Black. “We also acknowledge what has happened historically, and through the truth and reconciliation process we continue to work on improving those relations going forward – so this is a very important day for Timmins and Canada.”
Over 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Metis children attended residential schools at 139 schools across Canada. Some students were subjected to beatings, sexual abuse and neglect which, in some cases, resulted in death.
“Survivors of crime are of serious concerns to Timmins Police Services. We share with our Aboriginal service partners in the community the attention that can be drawn from such events as they are valid expressions of concerns from the community and Timmins Police is glad to participate in Orange Shirt Day,” said Mark DePatie, Aboriginal liaison for Timmins Police Service.
The impact of the residential school system on residents in Timmins is evidenced by the physical, psychological and family issues that are present in the Indigenous community.
“Health and wellbeing is part of reconciliation and it is important to acknowledge some of the things First Nations went through,” said Kristen Murray, the health promotion officer for Misiway Community Health, an organization serves the Indigenous community. “Within our health centre we deal with the trauma experienced to this day by the survivors of residential schools in this region.”
“Through Orange Shirt Day, we are honouring the survivors of the residential school system and also those students who perished there and never made it back home,” added Murray.
“The families and the children never had a choice as to which school they would attend where ever the Indian agent from the Ministry of Indian Affairs decided is where the child went and often it was a great distance from their home and family,” she explained.
In addition to the St. Anne Residential School in Fort Albany, two others in northeastern Ontario were located in Chapleau and Sault Ste. Marie.
“It’s important to remember the experiences at the residential schools so we can help to reconcile and make our country a better place,” said Chantal MacIvor, principal of Ecole Publique Lionel Gauthier.
The purpose of residential schools, according to one of its chief architects and administrators, Duncan Campbell Scott, was to take the “Indian out of the child,” a policy of assimilation that has had devastating impact on generations of survivors and their families.
