By Ariel Roitman (FSWC Educator)

Just as we usually start our ceremonies, events and gatherings with a Land Acknowledgement, we coincidentally begin the school year recognizing Canada’s long Indigenous history including the calamitous impact of Residential Schools on Indigenous communities. On September 30 we observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, synonymous with Orange Shirt Day. Inspired by the experience of Phylis Webstad (a Residential School survivor and creator of Orange Shirt Day), the first Orange Shirt Day occurred in 2013. However, September 30 only officially became a statuary holiday eight years later.

Truth and Reconciliation is a two-fold process. Many truths have come to light, even in recent years casting even darker shadows on Canada’s past. Yet, reconciliation has been a long, ongoing process that we, as a country, are still working toward. Looking forward, we must continue to find ways to reconcile, not with Canada’s past, but with the Indigenous, Metis, and Inuit communities whose pain, rooted in history, is still deeply felt.

The environments we strive to create in our classrooms - spaces for students to express their identities, ideas and feelings safely - were not the reality for the thousands of Indigenous children subjected to maltreatment, abuse and forced euro-centric conformity in Residential Schools.

As you spend the first few weeks of school setting up your classrooms and establishing your classroom dynamic, take the opportunity to ask your students what they value about it. In what kind of space do they like to learn, or learn best? What makes them thankful about coming to school? Why is it important to create a classroom contract? What are their expectations of you as their teacher? Asking these kinds of questions serves as a perfect gateway to acknowledging that not all classrooms in Canadian history were as welcoming as yours.

Check out these short videos that help explain Orange Shirt Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEj5vjc2EDk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT_ho4A6yw8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE1F5nBQmME