Orange Shirt Day awareness walk at Agency One draws over 2,000
A sea of orange in Fort Frances.
More than 2,000 people, many of them schoolchildren, took part in the annual walk on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
The walk started from the grounds of the former St. Margaret’s Indian Residential School, which operated from 1906 until its closing in 1974.
Some of the buildings have since been repurposed.
A monument recognizing school survivors and those who did not come home is now located on the grounds.
The annual walk, in its 5th year, is organized by a number of area Indigenous agencies.
Bill Morrison, who sits on the organizing committee, noted several others provided funding or other supports, including busing for the nearly 1,400 junior, intermediate and high school students to participate.
Morrison says it is important for young people to be involved.
“Our young people, the reason we have the students here, they’re future generations, they’re future citizens and future leaders,” says Morrison.
“By helping them understand the true history of residential schools in Canada, we encourage respect, empathy, and a commitment to ensuring that this never happens again.”
Brooklyn Haver spoke on the history of residential schools and the impact it had on her family.
She also reminded participants of the story behind the orange shirt and how a young Phyllis Webstad had the shirt her grandmother purchased taken away on the first day she attended residential school in British Columbia.
“Today, as you wear your orange shirt, see those around you wearing their shirt,” Haver told the gathering.
“Think of Phyllis and her story. Think of the children who simply wanted to learn but instead had every aspect of their identity wiped away. And also think of those like me who don’t know their culture due to the awful tragedy that is residential schools.”
Participants also heard from residential school survivors.
Josephine Mandamin was among them, and she asked those taking part to reflect as they made their walk.
“If you listen and if you hear, you walk with spirit. You walk with those spirits of those residential school survivors. You walk with those spirits that have gone on. And the children that never came home never made it home,” said Mandamin.
More than 150,000 Indigenous children were taken from their families and their communities and placed in residential schools across Canada.
Researchers have documented that over 4,000 never returned home.
Fifty-six of them were children who attended St. Margaret’s.
