If you are familiar with Canada and its history, then I am sure, you must have heard or know about the National Day For Truth and Reconciliation. However, the new immigrants there may not know much about it.

One thing that everyone should know is that this day is popularly known as Orange Shirt Day. It is a statutory holiday in Canada to honour survivors of the Canadian Indian residential schools and also the victims and their families. And of course, the date- September 30 is considered the national day for truth and reconciliation. It was only in 2021 that the Canadian government officially recognized the plea that the Aboriginal peoples and their communities put forward.

Let’s start from the beginning. I am sure most of you have no idea about the residential schools in Canada and the controversy related to them. Don’t worry, here I’m going to explain every detail behind this special day.

Let me first tell you about the Residential Schools

Residential school was a concept that was initially inaugurated by the federal government of Canada, in particular by the Canadian government’s Department of Indian Affairs and is funded by the same authorities. These were under the administration of Christien Churches. This system of schools was intended to prevent indigenous children from practicing their customs, traditions, and religion to assimilate them into the culture of Canada, which was ironically considered elite.

The history goes back to the 17th century when French missionaries arrived in New France. However, the efforts were oppressed by the indigenous peoples, who didn’t agree to be separated from their children for a much longer duration. The 1690s greatly abandoned them. However, consistent efforts were again introduced during the 1820s when residential schools were opened in many places, including the Red River Colony in present-day Manitoba and Ontario, to promote Christianity.

Living Conditions within the Schools

Actually, this was the major issue behind everything. There have been uncountable cases reported by the students who used to attend residential schools of abuse, both mental and physical, on the students by the school authorities, especially the teachers who often attacked the student’s self-esteem. Students attending the residential schools were often malnourished and were victims of brutal discipline policies that were not ethical in any other school system, including the other Canadian school systems. These schools caused intergenerational harm impacts, which can still be seen among the people of First Nations.

Corporal Punishment

As cruel as it sounds, corporal punishment is offered as the best answer to any student for an act of indiscipline according to the rules of the residential schools. The inhuman act was justified as the finest way to punish or deter runaways. This made it almost impossible for any student to leave the premises without the authorities’ permission.

Death Rates

The increasing concerns were even elevated by the increasing death rates in these schools. Overcrowding, poor sanitation facilities, lack of medical care, and lack of adequate heating led to the rising number of cases of various diseases, especially influenza and tuberculosis. The situation was made worse by the introduced federal policies that allowed enrollment of sick children to boost the figures.

The actual numbers are still debatable since there are no official records due to the inconsistency and carelessness of the school officials, who did not care enough to take down the exact number of mortalities and the person’s data. Additionally, the medical records were destroyed in compliance with retention and disposition policies for government records.

Controversies About Residential Schools  

The era of enlightenment came when numerous newspapers and publications wrote about the ill-treatment of students in residential schools. What left everyone in awe was the number of unmarked graves that were found in various residential schools remained a mystery and the fear that actual numbers would never be known because of unreliable record-keeping by the school’s officials.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission stated that the policy of Indian affairs was to abstain from answering any of the demands for the dead bodies of the students by their families due to lack of funds and instead cremate them within the burial sites of the school. This made it even more difficult to identify the graves and students who lost their lives since they were buried in unnamed graves.

Factual data:

• As the figures state, in May 2021, findings that were supposed to be related to 215 dead children were found buried on the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia.
• In June 2021, approximately 751 anonymous graves were noticed on the site of the Marieval Indian Residential School in Marieval, Saskatchewan, on the lands of Cowessess First Nations.
• In the same month, another 182 unmarked graves were found near St. Eugene’s Mission School close to Cranbrook, British Columbia.

Closure of Residential Schools

The revision of the Indian Act in the 1940s and 1950s led to the closure of many residential schools. Debates and protests led to the closure of schools from Alberta to Saskatchewan. Interestingly, many residential schools are being run now by indigenous peoples after their closure, White Calf Collegiate in Lebret, Saskatchewan, being one of them. Reports state that it was not until 1996 that the last school was closed.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formed in 2008 in coordination with the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA). It had the intention to expose the dirty history that came along with the residential schools and awaken the Canadians about the injustice that indigenous people have been facing for decades. It faced many issues, majorly because the commission leaders used to quit essentially because the government was not helpful at all.

Due to its persistent efforts, the commission faced many difficulties, but it created the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR ). After organizing many successful national events around the country, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission collected as many as 7,000 statements and more than 5 million records from indigenous families by 2014.

The National Center has become a hub for all the evidence and statements of the survivors. TRC stated in its final report statements of about 150000 Canadian residential school survivors and of the families of the lost children. TRC was the first to give it a label of cultural genocide and further elaborated cultural genocide as the ‘destruction of those structures and practices that allow the group to continue as a group.’

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a New, Legitimate Holiday

The TRC put forward the proposal for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in 2015. They wanted the federal government to examine a statutory holiday to honour survivors and examine abuses of the residential school survivors by the residential school system. After years-long debates on the issue, finally, on June 21, 2015, Bill C-5 created a national holiday to commemorate the legacy of residential schools in Canada and named it the national day for truth and reconciliation. It finally passed with royal assent without any disagreements.

Initially, the proposed date was 21st June, which is originally celebrated as the National Indigenous peoples’ day but further discussions had the date modified to September 30 as the national day for truth and reconciliation.

Phyllis Webstad

The national day for truth and reconciliation overlaps with Orange Shirt Day. The reason was that a six-year-old, who was extremely excited about her first day to school, which was a residential school, went to market with her grandmother and bought a shiny orange shirt, which was snatched on the first day and left an everlasting impact on the mind of the child.

In an interview, she elaborated on the incident that took place with her in July of 1973, “my grandmother brought me to town to buy something to wear. I chose a shiny orange shirt. Just like any other six-year-old, I was happy to be going to school, but I didn’t know exactly what was to come. When I got to the residential school, it was a pee-your-pants terror to be there and to realize that I was not going home. My shirt was taken away. Regardless of what I did, they would not return. I never got the chance to wear my shirt again. It was an entire school year that I was there. There was no one hugging us.” 

Her story made it impossible for TRC to ignore it, which led to the formation of the Orange Shirt Day website and served as a wheel to revolution across the country.

What do People do on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation?

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as the annual Orange Shirt Day, is a date for public commemoration by both indigenous and non-indigenous people to honour survivors and mark the tragic legacy of residential schools. On September 30, all Canadians are encouraged to wear orange shirts to spread awareness about the painful residential school experience of both the survivors and those who did not.

Since 2021, the first national day for truth and reconciliation, various communities formed by indigenous voices and non-indigenous peoples have organized events every year to raise awareness about the victims’ sufferings. On September 29 and 30, 2021, buildings across Canada were illuminated in orange from 7 p.m. until sunrise to honour survivors and their families on the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Takeaway

The federal statutory holiday directly responded to the call to action 80 among the 94 calls to action released by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The reconciliation process is incomplete without the truth and hence was named the national day for truth and reconciliation in response to a request for a federal statutory day of commemoration.

Celebration of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is not compensation for the sufferings of the First Nations but can somehow at least make the government and all those involved in the residential school system apologize for the carelessness and the abuse that minors had to go through.

Last Updated on April 22, 2024 by Pragya Chakrapani