Carol Baldwin
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Wakaw Recorder
Since 2021, opportunities to join in events have continued to increase beyond schools and this year the Town of Rosthern together with the Good Neighbours Food Centre (GNFC) held their fourth Healing Walk and Gathering.
Participants gathered at GNFC at 9:30 Monday morning for a Welcome followed by a viewing of Reserve 107: Reconciliation on the Prairies, which focuses on the community of Laird, where under Treaty 6, a 30 square mile piece of land was assigned as reserve land for the Young Chippewayan Indians, but three years later it was taken back leaving them with no place to live. After the documentary viewing, it was shared that finally almost 20 years later, the land claim of the Young Chippewayan has been acknowledged.
Elder Doreen Mike greeted everyone and offered a blessing before those gathered set out for the ‘Healing Walk’ led by GNFC Executive Director, Betty Rudachyk, and Mackenzie Hamm. Afterward, the group gathered again at GNFC where people shared some bannock and discussed and reflected on what they learned from the documentary.
The federal government created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on 1 June 2008, chaired by Chief Justice Murray Sinclair. When ten days later, former Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued an official apology, on behalf of Canadians, for the residential school policy and the harm done, Governor General, Mary Simon, who at that time was president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, was among several Indigenous leaders invited to hear the apology and then respond from the floor of the House of Commons. She applauded the gesture but called it a first step in a long healing process. She said, “This can only be achieved when dignity, confidence and respect for traditional values and human rights once again become part of our daily lives and are mirrored in our relationships with governments and other Canadians.”
In May 2013, the St. Joseph Mission Commemoration Project and Reunion brought residential school survivors and their families together at Williams Lake, British Columbia. Phyllis Webstad was among the many survivors who attended and shared the story of her new orange shirt being taken by the nuns and never returned. “The colour 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.”
After the Williams Lake event and Phyllis Webstad’s speech, the idea of using an orange shirt as a symbol of remembrance, teaching, and healing was born. Organizers of the Williams Lake Commemoration Project and Reunion formed a board and sought private and corporate donations. The board promoted an annual Canada-wide Orange Shirt Day to encourage conversations about the legacy of residential schools and to invite others to participate. The message and slogan of Orange Shirt Day became Every Child Matters.
In July 2014, the Assembly of First Nations Chiefs-in-Assembly passed a resolution declaring 30 September Orange Shirt Day and asked all Canadians to listen “with open hearts” to the stories of residential school survivors as “a first step in reconciliation.” The Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued its report in December 2015 and called for the establishment of a national holiday to commemorate the horrors of the schools and to help in healing. On June 3rd, 2021, after unanimous passage in the House of Commons, Bill C-5 was unanimously passed in the Senate. The Bill created September 30th as a new national statutory holiday: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Then Canadian Heritage Minister, Steven Guilbeault, said that he hoped the day would become an opportunity for all to learn and reflect, like Remembrance Day.
It is easy to think that nothing can be done about what happened years ago, the documentary Reserve 107 says otherwise.
The documentary and independently produced study guides and resources are available at www.reserve107thefilm.com
