St. Nicholas school community awash in orange today

If there’s one thing Vanessa Kennedy hopes the children at St. Nicholas Catholic Elementary School take away from Orange Shirt Day, it’s that they know why they’re wearing it.

The Barrie Native Friendship Centre cultural resource coordinator was at St. Nicholas today to lead a series of activities that highlight Indigenous culture and tradition with children in grades 1 to 8.

Grades 7 and 8 students last week prepared for Kennedy’s visit by reading the book, The Orange Shirt Story, written by Phyllis Webstad, about whose residential school experience Orange Shirt Day is based upon. The book is illustrated by Brock Nicol.

Webstad, a residential school survivor, was stripped of the orange shirt her grandmother gave her on the first day at the Williams Lake, B.C., St. Joseph Mission residential school.

“I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t give it back to me, it was mine! The colour orange has always reminded me of that and how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and how I felt like I was worth nothing. All of us little children were crying and no one cared,” Webstad said at the website, orangeshirtday.org.

Principal Deirdre Vance said explaining history to students is important, particularly so that something like residential schools doesn’t happen again.

“These are our First People, and they’re always in our prayers,” Vance said.

“We learned about Phyllis’ story,” said four of the students as they carried on preparations for making Three Sisters Soup, an Indigenous dish prepared at harvest time using beans, squash, corn, some of which came from the school’s vegetable garden.

All students were invited to have some soup later in the day.

Since 2013, Orange Shirt Day has provided local communities an opportunity to explore Indigenous culture and talk about all aspects of residential schools, including the harm caused and reconciliation. The national day is a legacy of a commemoration event at the Williams Lake, B.C., St. Joseph Mission residential school. A former Indigenous student, Phyllis (Jack) Webstad, was brought to the school in 1973 when she was just six years old.

Key facts about residential schools:

• Residential Schools: Government-sponsored schools run by churches
• Primary Purpose: To integrate or assimilate Indigenous children into mainstream, Euro-Canadian culture
• Number of students who attended: 150,000 (estimate)
• Number of students who died: 6,000 (estimate; records incomplete)
• How long did they operate? Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ontario, accepted first boarding students in 1831; Gordon Residential School in Punnichy, Saskatchewan, closed in 1996

~The Canadian Encyclopedia