Our history is not all roses and sunshine. Painfully, we have come to know that. Challenging aspects of our collective history have been laid bare with respects to our colonial past, Indigenous peoples and residential schools. The horrors of the residential school system have left generations of broken lives and communities in its wake. It is not ancient history. There are vibrant, living memories to the atrocities. 

Industrial Schools for Indigenous youth became part of Federal Government and Christian church policy in Canada in the early 1830s. The colonial experiment of Industrial Schools set the pattern for post-Confederation policies that adopted the Residential School model in 1883. Industrial Schools initially began as day-schools where Indigenous students were taught through manual labour how to learn jobs such as farming, construction work, millenary, and other tasks. The Industrial School model existed both on-reserve and off-reserve. In 1883, the Industrial School Model was replaced with government funded boarding schools. By 1920, amendments to the Indian Act made it mandatory for every Indigenous child between the ages of 7 to 16 years of age to attend an Indian Residential School. In 1933, legal guardianship of the Indigenous children attending residential schools was assumed by the principals of the schools. This was done upon the forced surrender of custody by the parents. These policies were influenced by Duncan Campbell Scott, deputy superintendent of the Department of Indian Affairs from 1913 to 1932: “I want to get rid of the Indian problem … Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department.” 

Indigenous Children between the ages of 4 to 16 years of age were sent to Residential Schools where they would remain for a full 10-month school year. The students’ time was divided between academic learning, religious prayer and various chores or tasks assigned to them. The schools were segregated by gender, which meant that male and female siblings would be separated upon their arrival and would not see one another until the summer.  This segregation was one of the many ways in which the Residential School system would seek to eliminate Indigenous culture. 

Students who attended the Residential School system reported on the various traumatic experiences they lived through. These included: being forbidden to speak their Indigenous languages, being forced to speak English or French, often given a new non-Indigenous name, required to adopt Christianity, forced haircut or shaved head,  forced to wear a uniform, lack of nutritious diet, being subjected to nutritional experiments, insufficient food, spoiled food, segregation based on gender, withholding of medical attention, sexual assault, electrical shock, exposure to freezing temperatures with improper clothing, exposure to contagious illnesses, forced labour in unsafe work environments, vilification of cultural traditions, use of racist language to address students and withholding presents and letters from family, amongst many other things. The schools also developed and implemented various forms of punishments for students. The lives of the students who attended the Residential Schools were so distinctly traumatic that “Residential School Syndrome” is now a widely recognized complex of health outcomes from the mental, physical, emotional and cultural traumas suffered at the schools. 

 Many children did not survive their time at the schools. The combination of cruel punishments, malnutrition, neglect and isolation from family led to countless deaths of Indigenous children. Some students were known to have run away from schools, only to perish on their journey to return home. There were, however, many children who were abused and disappeared. Unmarked graves of students have been identified at many former Residential Schools sites across Canada. 

In 2008 the Government of Canada offered an apology to all former students of Residential Schools in Canada. The apology openly recognized that the assimilation policy on which the schools were established was “wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country.” The apology recognized the profoundly damaging and lasting impact the schools had on Indigenous culture, heritage and language. 

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada was officially launched in 2008 as part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. The final report, “Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future”, documents the tragic experiences of approximately 150,000 Canadian residential school students. Many of these children were sexually and physically abused. The commission also found that thousands of residential school students died of malnourishment and disease caused by poor living conditions. The commission established 94 calls to action to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation. 

Friday, September 30 makes Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The City of Mississauga has a number of activities to connect with over the coming days. Information on the city’s plans for the day can be found at: 

https://www.mississauga.ca/national-day-for-truth-and-reconciliation/ 

There are numerous avenues we can travel to inform ourselves. A great place to start, locally, is with the resources that our library system has organized. They have curated a recommended reading list from Indigenous authors for adults: 

https://mississauga.overdrive.com/collection/1363217 

and for kids: https://mississauga.overdrive.com/library/kids/collection/1363225 

We can also reflect on the 94 calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission: 

https://crc-canada.org/en/ressources/calls-to-action-truth-reconciliation-commission-canada/ 

In the “things to do” realm, on September 29 Mississauga is hosting the inaugural Gidinawendimin – We Are All Related 2022 event at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre: 

https://nctr.ca/gidinawendimin/ 

On September 30 there are also themed tours available at the Bradley Museum from the Museums of Mississauga, and do not forget to check out the Eagles Spirits of the Great Waters events on the 30th and over the weekend: https://eaglespirits.ca/

In addition, OMNI television will be airing a breadth of programming on Truth and Reconciliation: 

• Mary Simon Interview show “A conversation with the Governor General”:

• Cindy Blackstock Interview show “Lessons from the Graves”

• Cultural Genocide – Canada’s Schools of Shame doc produced this year in Cantonese, Mandarin and English, plus translated into Punjabi, Italian, Arabic, Tagalog and Portuguese: https://www.omnitv.ca/on/en/videos/cultural-genocide-canadas-schools-of-shame/

In addition to this content and the Indigenous stories produced for news and regional Focus shows, OMNI will continue to air its Indigenous short stories (60 seconds each) in different languages: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpYhyoAjmlDgwxy_OK6iVYohwTCZ8Ji63) 

The annual Orange Shirt Day on September 30 opens the door to global conversation on all aspects of Residential Schools. It is an opportunity to create meaningful discussion about the effects of Residential Schools and the legacy they have left behind. A discussion all Canadians can tune into and create bridges with each other for reconciliation. A day for survivors to be reaffirmed that they matter, and so do those that have been affected. Every Child Matters, even if they are an adult, from now on.  

The date was chosen because it is the time of year in which children were taken from their homes to residential schools, and because it is an opportunity to set the stage for anti-racism and anti-bullying policies for the coming school year. It is an opportunity for First Nations, local governments, schools and communities to come together in the spirit of reconciliation and hope for generations of children to come. 

Please wear orange on September 30. 

Special thank you to Taysia LaForme for contributing to this article.