Members of the Native Women's Association of the Northwest Territories are planning to greet Yellowknife residents on the street in front of the organization's office at the Canada Post building to mark Orange Shirt Day, Sept. 30.
Simon Whitehouse/NNSL photo
Trish Bullis, the association's victim services coordinator, and Skye Lacroix, a new Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls programs officer, will introduce themselves to the public from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Their display will include a table set up on Franklin Avenue. Bullis and Lacroix will give away orange balloons and miniature orange shirts. There will also be small baggies handed out containing cards with contact information. Some will also be distributed to various elementary schools and MLAs.
"We are going to be available because we understand what has gone on in the residential schools and impacts and effects it has brought," said Bullis. "It is a multi-generational (reality) and you see it up here in the North, maybe in a bit more than other places."
She noted that addictions and traumatic suffering experienced by Indigenous people in the North are evident, including in Yellowknife.
"At the end of the day, we want to let people know that there are people who care and willing to help you," she said.
Orange Shirt Day is based on the story of former Mission, B.C. residential school student Phyllis Webstad, a six-year-old who went to school wearing a brand new bright orange T-shirt from her grandmother. When Webstad got to school, educators forced her to remove the clothing in favour of mandatory uniforms.
Political leaders in the North said this week encouraged observing the day as the effects of the Indian residential school system in Canada impact many Canadians to this day, including Northern Indigenous people.
"I think it is important to have a day to recognize residential school survivors," said Michael McLeod, member of Parliament for the Northwest Territories. "I am one, but I'm not the only (federal politician) that has gone to residential schools. There are also a lot of colleagues and MPs and senators who are Indigenous who have experienced it. There is a lack of awareness of Indigenous history because of how Canadian history has been translated and passed on to schools, so it is important to have events that recognize that."
McLeod supports having two separate days to address Indigenous reality: Indigenous Peoples Day recognizes the cultural importance that First Nations, Metis, and Inuit have provided to Canada. It is a statutory holiday.
Orange Shirt Day, however, recognizes the legacy that residential schools have brought upon Indigenous peoples. Now in its eighth year, it is not a statutory holiday in Canada.
"I know there has been a lot of discussion on Aboriginal day as a holiday and more discussion on doing something similar that it could all be rolled into one. But many people feel that Indigenous Peoples Day is celebrating culture and language and Indigenous peoples' history. It is a lot different in that tone, but residential schools are not a part of it. It needed its own focus," McLeod said. "I think it is appropriate, and a day we can all take a look and see something that took place in history and remember. "
Stephen Kakfwi, former premier of the Northwest Territories, spent seven years in residential school, including at Grollier Hall when he was nine and Grandin College when he was 12. He said in an interview this week that any efforts to get education out to the public about the impacts of residential school are welcome.
"I think it is a good idea," Kakfwi said. "I don't want people to forget what happened to thousands of us for 150 years. I think it is good for Canadians who want to know their history and for children to come to mark a day every fall. We need to remember hundreds and thousands that were taken away to residential schools by laws of this country, away from communities and away from families for months and years at a time."