Friday September 30, 2022, marks the second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
This Federal holiday was created to honour First Nations, Inuit and Métis survivors, families, and communities, to ensure that public commemoration of their history and the legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process. As we communicated to employees last year, we have committed to using this day as an opportunity for reflection and education.
There were 140 federally run Indian Residential Schools which operated in Canada between 1831 and 1998. The last school closed only 24 years ago. After the discovery of the remains of 215 indigenous children in unmarked graves at a former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia, in the spring of 2021, the federal government fast-tracked Bill C-5, An Act to amend several laws, including the Canada Labour Code (National Day for Truth and Reconciliation). The legislation came into effect in August 2021.
The former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School was the only Indian Residential School in the Maritime Provinces. Built in 1928-29 in the Sipekni’katik district of Mi’kma’ki, near the village of Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, the school building once stood on a large property that featured barns and other farm buildings, staff residences, cultivated fields, and pastures. The school was established in 1929 and was open to students from 1930 to 1967. The abandoned school building was demolished in 1986 and a factory now stands in its place. The Shubenacadie Indian Residential School was part of the residential school system whereby the Canadian government and certain churches and religious organizations worked together to assimilate Indigenous children as part of a broader effort to destroy Indigenous cultures and identities, and to suppress Indigenous histories. In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission described this policy as cultural genocide. Many Shubenacadie survivors and descendants call it genocide.
Orange Shirt Day
The date of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was selected to align with Orange Shirt Day – September 30th. Orange Shirt Day is an Indigenous-led commemorative day that honours the children who survived Indian Residential Schools and remembers those who did not. The month of September is generally symbolic as it has historically been a painful month for Indigenous families and communities because it is the time when children went back to residential schools.
Orange Shirt Day first began in Williams Lake, BC to witness and honor the healing journey of residential school survivors, and it is now recognized by schools, children, and educators across Canada. The orange shirt represents the story of a student named Phyllis Webstad, who was given a new orange shirt by her grandmother for the first day of school at St. Joseph’s Mission residential school in British Columbia. Sadly, Phyllis did not get to wear her orange shirt proudly as it was taken away, along with her other personal items. This was a common scene at residential schools. The link below is Phyllis Webstad’s story and origin of the orange shirt.
On Friday September 30, 2022, The Shaw Group will acknowledge this day by inviting all employees to wear an orange shirt to raise awareness of the tragic legacy of residential schools and to honour the thousands of survivors. We also ask our Managers in all divisions to take a moment with their teams on Friday to share the reason for the Federal Holiday and what it represents. The link below is a great resource for all of us to find ways to participate in the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.
We also encourage all employees to take a few minutes out of their day to better understand the reason we observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation by watching the videos below:
In addition to the above, to continue the ongoing education of our employees on this important subject, any employee who takes the Indigenous Canada course from The University of Alberta, (while it is available) and can provide that certificate to HR will be reimbursed for the course cost of $63.00. A link to the course information is found below.
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