30th September is Orange Shirt Day – Every Child Matters

This week at our staff team meeting we were fortunate to welcome Eddy Charlie and Kristin Spray. This was an opportunity for our team to learn more about Orange Shirt Day, the destructive impact that the residential schools system had on Indigenous communities, and the work that Eddy and Kirstin are doing to further awareness and promote healing.

“I want to release what is inside of me. All that fear. All that anger. All that pain. I want all of Canada to know why we are the way we are today.” – Eddy Charlie

We strongly encourage all of our community to take part in this movement by educating themselves on the violent history of these institutions, listening to the stories of survivors, and wearing an orange shirt on September 30th.

Accounts of survivors are valuable records as many children did not make it home from residential schools and many survivors have since passed away. The National Center for Truth and Reconciliation is an important resource as it permanently holds the collection of resources produced by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission itself.

Due to errors made while collecting survivors stories The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that the survivors accounts that they collected during the compensation process will be destroyed by 2027 except in cases where a survivor comes forward to ask for their records to be preserved.

The National Center for Truth and Reconciliation is ensuring that there will continue to be a body of records.

We are so grateful for the generosity that Eddy has shown to us in sharing his story and experiences so that we can sit with the truth.