‘It’s history in the making’: Residential school survivors, community members reflect on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation with hope, hesitation

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This article was published 29/09/2021 (1183 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Phyllis Webstad has proudly donned her orange shirt well before Sept.30 became a national holiday.　

The author, speaker and activist who tells her story about surviving the residential school system all over the country, is the creator of Orange Shirt Day, marked on the 30th to recognize the harms of the residential school system and to support survivors.　

But while Webstad is glad she is able to share her experiences — she was devastated when a new orange shirt her grandmother had bought her was taken away by missionaries at the residential school she attended — she hopes the holiday will lead to more settlers educating themselves.

“This is not just Indigenous history, this is Canadian history, and there’s no longer any excuse for anyone not knowing about what happened to us,” she said, noting there are many resources about the history and impact of residential schools that can easily be found online.　

Orange Shirt Day has now become a federal statutory holiday called the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It was enacted earlier this summer after the identifying of multiple mass unmarked graves of hundreds of Indigenous children who died at residential schools they were forced to attend.

The holiday is six years in the making, as it was one of the 94 calls to action presented by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015 that urged governments to tackle the harms of residential schools. Only a handful of the calls have since been fulfilled.

While the creation of the holiday has sparked some hope for positive change, it has also ignited feelings of trepidation on whether real, concrete action to improve the lives of Indigenous people will emerge.　

The Star spoke to Webstad and others from Indigenous communities about how they feel about the first official National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, their concerns and hopes.

Here are their responses.　

Phyllis Webstad, a member of the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation in B.C., is the creator of Orange Shirt Day and a residential school survivor.

I’m feeling overwhelmed but I remain humbled and honoured that my story can bring change across Canada and awareness and education. It’s history in the making, it’s historical and Canadian society is understanding more.

Orange Shirt Day has mainly been in elementary and high schools, but this year more corporations and governments are getting on board. It’s being discussed more openly.

All those Indigenous people who are comfortable educating others can continue to do so, but I know some who refuse to do it. They get asked to speak and they say no. But I’m half-European and have a foot in both worlds so I don’t mind being that bridge.

There’s a lot of reading to do [for settlers]. There’s the 94 calls to action, there’s the TRC report that has a section on missing children and unmarked burials. It wasn’t news to us when the children were revealed.

And there’s the murdered and missing women and girls report that I haven’t read either myself. I am learning as well and just because I’m Indigenous doesn’t mean I’m an expert on everything.

Eve Tuck, a professor at OISE at the University of Toronto, is Unangax̂ and a member of the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island, Alaska.

I am torn by the creation of a national holiday because national holidays have the effect of reinforcing the nation-state of Canada instead of holding up the self-determination of Indigenous communities in relation to their homelands and waters.

But I do think it makes sense to break from the day-to-day flow of work and school to remember and reflect. I hope that Indigenous people can spend time with their elders and children, loving on them and helping them to feel safe and heard in the world.

I hope that white people can spend the day reading work, watching films, and engaging in art made by Indigenous people on the 364 other days of the year, rather than asking Indigenous people for more work on a day that should centre Indigenous communities.

Megan Scribe is an assistant professor in the sociology department at what some refer to as X University. She is Ininiw from Norway House Cree Nation.

It is significant that among the few calls to action that the federal government has chosen to engage includes a highly public gesture that gives the appearance of acknowledgment and engagement with the TRC.

To date, Canada has responded to less than 10 out of 94 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action. Given that the calls to action were released June 2015, over six years ago now, I would have expected the federal government to have responded to more than a handful.

For many, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation confirms the mistaken belief that residential schools are a tragic chapter in Canadian history, but for me this day is an opportunity to raise awareness about ongoing state violence that Canada commits against Indigenous peoples on a daily basis.

Gertie Pierre, of Sechelt First Nation in B.C., is a residential school survivor and works at Indian Residential School Survivors Society.

I’m feeling a lot of emotion and anxiety and I don’t know what to expect. I’m praying that we’re all going to come together [on Sept. 30] and do some kind of healing.

I’m concerned about the elders … and families that are going through the grief and the trauma, everything that has happened with the bodies being found. It’s something that rips at your heart — you feel fear for everyone because it’s so traumatic.

[News coverage on the graves] opens all the wounds again from when you attended residential school and all the things that happened to you there, and you think about the others that are laying in the graves that weren’t able to speak about what they went through. We’re here to speak on their behalf.

Christina Gray, an associate at JFK Law Corporation in Vancouver, is a Ts’msyen citizen from Lax Kw’alaams in B.C. and Dene from Treaty 8 territory in the Northwest Territories.

The national holiday is a good first step in recognizing Canada’s part in the harms that it inflicted on Indigenous peoples concerning residential schools. There is much more work to do in terms of implementing the Truth and Reconciliation calls to action.

This year we saw a lot of really challenging work that Indigenous nations have taken on to unearth the graves of Indigenous children. I would love to see both the provincial and federal governments take more of an active and participatory role in doing that work.

My dad died two years ago and he went to two residential schools in the Northwest Territories: Lapointe Hall and Breynat Hall. He gave his testimony. He shared a video [of his experiences]. It’s part of the legacy that he left.

It’s really important to talk about these things because we have to learn from these histories and experiences so history isn’t repeated.

Tony Bomberry is a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River and a residential school survivor.

A couple weeks ago at our survivor secretariat meeting, we got a message from the Blue Jays and they were willing to give five or six tickets and to possibly throw the first pitch at a game [Thursday].

So I know there is opportunity, I know [settlers] are trying. But going back to the government, it’s still not a level playing field.

I live in Six Nations and we still don’t have running water. We are the biggest reserve in Canada in terms of people, and we still don’t have that basic need. Internet services are terrible down here … funding dollars for our programs, we’re underfunded. People are frustrated.

There’s just so much work that needs to be done, but I was amazed a couple of months ago when we had the march in various cities. The public knows, the public is supportive, but are we doing it without seeing any action? And that’s what I want to see.

Janice Makokis is an adviser to a First Nation on Indigenous rights and a fellow at the Yellowhead Institute. She is from Onihcikiskwapiwin (Saddle Lake Cree Nation) of Treaty No. 6 Territory.

My hope for this day is for every Canadian to take a moment of pause and reflection to listen to the stories, voices and experiences of Indigenous peoples — especially those that went to residential schools.

When the confirmation of the statutory holiday was announced I heard it with skepticism and saw it potentially as another cop-out for Canada to only fulfil the calls to action that are easy and simply seen as symbolic and performative. However, I’ve heard from people, allies and companies’ genuine desire to learn and hold space for Indigenous peoples to share our truths. This has changed my outlook.

I am the daughter and granddaughter of residential school survivors. Today, I use my personal family history, my academic training and work experience to educate people about the truth of what happened in Canada.

I want my 7-year-old son to grow up in a world where he is proud to be Cree and he doesn’t have to deal with the level of hate, racism and colonial violence that my grandparents, parents and I had to endure.

Dawnis Kennedy works at Manitoba Indigenous Cultural Education Centre and is a fellow at the Yellowhead Institute. She is from Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation.

For me, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is complex.

I feel sad. I am triggered. I mourn all of what I would have had if not for residential schools. I would have spoken the language of our ancestors as my first language. I would have known my songs. My mom and my grandparents would have lived longer lives. I would not have been impacted by the harms they still carried because of residential schools.

If who we are and what we know as Indigenous peoples was seen as valuable and not as a threat to be eliminated, I would have been born to a healthy land with enough clean and clear waters for everyone.

For me, I also take this opportunity to support my son. He knows some of what happened to our relatives in residential schools. He knows that there are still reserves without water or without schools, there are still children who have to leave their communities for their education. When he sees our neighbours hanging up orange shirts on their door or hears his teacher talking about it, it helps him to rebuild his trust in people and in society and feel that he will not be able to be taken.

My hopes for this day are that the holiday will inspire people to take concrete action, to find all the children who didn’t come home, to address the gaps in equitable funding, to reform systems that were designed to oppress.

What I hope is that we use this time to create great change, if not for me, or my son or grandchildren, then for my great-great-great-great-great grandchildren — in their lifetime I want to see all that I would’ve had restored to them. I will recommit myself to doing my part to continue that work: to learn my language; to learn our songs; to learn all that my mother and grandmother would have known if not for residential schools. And I will hug my son and tell him he is loved.

Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

Olivia Bowden is a Toronto-based staff reporter for the Star. Reach her via email: obowden@thestar.ca