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| North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice spoke on Orange Shirt Day and Reconciliation on Monday at the Legislature (from the BC Leg Video archive) |
With the fall session resuming Monday in Victoria, British Columbia's MLA's have returned to the Legislature Chamber, the opening session for the Fall offering an opportunity for comments on a variety of themes.
As the resumption of Legislature proceedings arrived after the recent National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, for North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice the Legislature return provided her the forum for some reflection on themes of Truth and Reconciliation and in her opening address for the fall, some thoughts on Phyillis Webstad who remains the advocate for residential School victims and survivors through the Orange Shirt Day initiative.
Ms. Rice's commentary was as follows on Monday:
When she had just turned six years old, Phyllis Webstad's granny gave her a shiny, new, orange shirt for her first day of school at St. Joseph's residential school near Williams Lake. When Phyllis arrived at school, she was stripped and her clothing taken away, including her shiny, new, orange shirt. She never saw it again. No longer excited to be going to school, she wanted to go home to granny, but she had to stay there for 300 sleeps.No matter how much the little kids cried, it didn't matter. No one cared. This is how Orange Shirt Day was born. Phyllis is the third generation in her family to attend residential school. Both her grandmother and her mother attended, ten years each.
Many residential school survivors and supporters advocated to the federal government for this national day of commemoration, and it was a call to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The province proclaimed September 30, 2021 as Orange Shirt Day, as it has since 2017. Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was also held on September 30.
Orange Shirt Day is a grassroots event to raise awareness of the history and legacy of the residential school system. It's a day to honour the children who were impacted and to remind all Canadians that every child matters. Recent findings of unmarked graves at the sites of former residential schools in B.C. and across Canada has brought into sharp focus this year the atrocities of the residential school system and the continued intergenerational trauma experienced by Indigenous peoples.
I had the honour to witness some of the testimony at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings. I recall a story of a survivor who had been dropped off by her mother to a residential school. The little girl did not want to go, but her mother insisted she had to.
She was brought inside the school, where she was lined up with other children who were getting their hair cut off. Not wanting to be away from her mother and not wanting to get her hair chopped off, she decided to get out of that lineup and run away, back outside to her mother.
The nuns tried to catch her, but she was able to dodge them, break free and get outside. There she saw her mother sitting in the car with her head tilted back on the seat, laughing. She was devastated to see her mother laughing at bringing her to such a horrific place.
This was a lasting memory for this residential school survivor — to see her mother laughing. Their relationship was strained ever since that moment. She never forgave her mother, and they spent their entire adult lives in tension and turmoil. The effects impacted her own ability to parent.
It wasn't until her mother was on her deathbed that they made an attempt to reconcile the years of their tumultuous relationship. The daughter confronted her mother about how hurt she felt as a little girl, seeing her mother laughing at the prospect of dropping her off at residential school.
Unfortunately, it wasn't until her mother was near the end of life that she learned that her mother wasn't sitting in the car with her head tilted back laughing, but in fact, she was sitting there with her head tilted back in tears. She was crying, not laughing.
This sad story is an example of the intergenerational trauma residential schools have caused. The harms are still being felt today.
Orange Shirt Day is a day to acknowledge the history and dark legacy of the residential school system and a day to honour the children and families affected.
On this day, we encourage every British Columbian to wear an orange shirt to show that every child does matter and to show our commitment to working together with Indigenous people to create a better future for all of our children.
You can review he presentation to the Chamber from the Legislature Video archive here, starting at the 10:13 minute mark.
Ms Rice shared the video of her presentation on Tuesday afternoon,
The North Coast MLA also made note of her focus towards her fall return to the Legislature through Social Media prior to Monday's return to business
Ms. Rice speaking to themes of Colonial Governments and intergenerational trauma towards First Nations people.
More items of note on the work of the Legislature can be explored from our archive page here.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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