Friday, September 30, 2022

Today's News: Orange Shirt Day


https://beyond.ubc.ca/orange-shirt-day/

Sept 30 is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also called Orange Shirt Day - for settlers, it is a day for thoughtfulness, remembrance, acknowledgement of wrongdoing, apology, and promise to do better.
Here are some tweets and stories to share. 
At first I thought, is this tweet for real? But yes, it is, and really, its great: Here is the background to the Orange Shirt:
Orange Shirt Day is a legacy of the St. Joseph Mission residential school commemoration event held in Williams Lake in the spring of 2013. 
 It grew out of Phyllis’s account of losing her shiny new orange shirt on her first day of school at the Mission, and it has become an opportunity to keep the discussion on all aspects of residential schools happening annually.
I went to the Mission for one school year in 1973/1974. 
I had just turned 6 years old. I lived with my grandmother on the Dog Creek reserve. We never had very much money, but somehow my granny managed to buy me a new outfit to go to the Mission school. 
I remember going to Robinson’s store and picking out a shiny orange shirt. It had string laced up in front, and was so bright and exciting – just like I felt to be going to school! 
When I got to the Mission, they stripped me, and took away my clothes, including the orange shirt! I never wore it again. I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t give it back to me, it was mine! 
The color 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. 
 I was 13 years old and in grade 8 when my son Jeremy was born. Because my grandmother and mother both attended residential school for 10 years each, I never knew what a parent was supposed to be like.
With the help of my aunt, Agness Jack, I was able to raise my son and have him know me as his mother.
I went to a treatment centre for healing when I was 27 and have been on this healing journey since then.
I finally get it, that the feeling of worthlessness and insignificance, ingrained in me from my first day at the mission, affected the way I lived my life for many years. 
Even now, when I know nothing could be further than the truth, I still sometimes feel that I don’t matter. Even with all the work I’ve done! 
I am honored to be able to tell my story so that others may benefit and understand, and maybe other survivors will feel comfortable enough to share their stories. 
 Today... Phyllis Webstad is Northern Secwpemc (Shuswap) from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation (Canoe Creek Indian Band). She comes from mixed Secwepemc and Irish/French heritage, was born in Dog Creek, and lives in Williams Lake, BC. 
Today, Phyllis is married, has one son, a stepson and five grandchildren. She is the Founder and Ambassador of the Orange Shirt Society, and tours the country telling her story and raising awareness about the impacts of the residential school system.

In other news, OMG Florida, this is terrible: In Canada, we will remember Fiona. I was moved by these tweets: And thanks, CBC! These bullshit right-wing "controversies" just never stop, do they? This week, its Lizzo and the Library of Congress. She is actually a classically-trained flautist: This is so lovely, and the thread is full of great stories too: Moving to Ukraine, here are a few interesting tweets I have collected over the last few days: Tonight the Ukraine military has surrounded Lyman and is preparing to move on the nearby rail hubs Svatove and Starobilsk, which would take half of the Donbas out of Russian control.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Weasel words of the day
"100% of proceeds"
means after labor and materials and profit and special expenses NOT total cost paid.
Good possibility the charity gets little and any they might get is tax deductible by timmies.
So increased sales and a tax break.
It is more support your local corporate masters.

11:19 am
Cathie from Canada said...

Sad, isn't it, that every time a corporation announces some laudable project we all look for the weasel words. They have damaged our trust so many times that we just don't believe them anymore.
In this case, the video was a very positive one, so I really am hopeful that there isn't going to be any tricky accounting.

1:21 pm

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