CASASC recognizes September 30th as Orange Shirt Day. This is a day we acknowledge the impacts residential schooling has had on Indigenous people in Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. It is a way to commemorate the residential school experience, honour the healing that survivors and their families have and continue to go through, remember the children who did not make it home, and begin conversations around healing and reconciliation that have previously not taken place. 

Sept 30th was picked to recognize Orange Shirt Day as the day when Indigenous children would be taken and sent to residential schooling for most of the school year, sometimes into the summer. This day helps to reaffirm that every child matters. 

CASASC staff wore the orange Made to Respect t-shirt on Sept. 30th as a visual symbol of our awareness of the need for ongoing reconciliation. We are working to foster respect and mutual understanding with all Indigenous people and communities.

CASASC recognizes that we are situated on Treaty 7 land to the south of the Red Deer river, the traditional territory of the Blackfoot, Tsuu T’ina and Stoney Nakoda peoples, and that the Central Alberta region we serve falls under Treaty 6 traditional Métis, Cree and Saulteaux territory to the north of the Red Deer River. We honour the First Peoples (First Nations, Metis, Inuit) who have lived here since time immemorial, and we give thanks for the land we reside on. 

Story Time

CASASC educators read two stories in a special edition of CASASC Story Time on Sept. 30th.

“As educators, we reaffirm the statement that every child matters,” they said. “We are here today to read some stories related to Indigenous children’s experiences with residential schooling and encourage you to seek further information about the experiences of Indigenous people. At the end of the stream, we will recommend some resources you can seek out.”

You can watch the Orange Shirt Day edition of Story Time here

Resources:  

Orangeshirtday.org 

Trc.ca– truth and reconciliation commission’s website with all 91 recommendations