Rod Nettagog, from Henvey Inlet First Nation in Northern Ontario, led smudging ceremonies at the A’nó:wara Learning Circle Tuesday as part of Loyalist College’s weeklong events leading up to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Photo by Victoria Caminha, QNet News
BELLEVILLE – Indigenous students at Loyalist College say it’s important that all Canadians understand the significance of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day, both of which are this Friday.
The day is one of awareness and reflection in memory of the children who died in the residential school system in Canada, and also of the trauma the system caused to survivors and their families.
“Everyone needs to know that no, our children weren’t taken care of properly,” said Tammy Maracle, a student in the personal support worker program at Loyalist. Maracle spoke to QNet News Tuesday, before taking part in a Haudenosaunee round dance ceremony in the college’s cafeteria.
“They were most often taken away from their families by a government official. They were stolen. Everybody needs to know.”
Truth and Reconciliation Day “needs to be shown on a brighter scale of what this actually encompasses,” Maracle said. “And that is the stealing of our First Nations children (and) putting them in residential schools where they were beaten, raped, mutilated, and killed, and thrown in an unmarked grave.”
Signs along Loyalist driveway
Rod Nettagog, from Henvey Inlet First Nation in northern Ontario, led smudging ceremonies – the burning of sacred medicines such as sweetgrass, cedar, sage, and tobacco – at the A’nó:wara Learning Circle this week.
“Our elders and our knowledge keepers … always knew what was going on (at the residential schools), and they have been trying to tell their stories,” Nettagog told QNet News.
But it was only in the last couple of years when graves of children were discovered at former residential schools, that people around the world learned what had happened, he said.
“How can we heal together as a people, not just our people? We’ve been trying to heal, and we’ll still continue to heal from this tragedy.”
Sarah Dayton, a developmental service work student, was in the Loyalist cafeteria before Tuesday’s dancer ceremony began. She said it’s important to mark Truth and Reconciliation Day because “it helps realize the history behind residential schools and how far people have come, and what they’ve gone through, and to just get a better understanding of our history.”
Nettagog said that while it’s important to reflect and remember, action on reconciliation is needed as well.
“I like to encourage people to come out and visit our communities and see how we live. There are a lot of communities that don’t have clean drinking water. How can we fix that problem?”
Catherine Connaty, an Indigenous student in the social service work program who attended Tuesday’s smudging ceremony, said, “It’s really important that we get the awareness out, (that) everyone participates and (that) you can participate in a variety of ways.”
That could mean just further educating yourself on what the residential schools were, she said, or “it can be things like donating money or spreading awareness, educating others, or even just showing up. But at the end of the day, when you get to put your orange shirt away, Indigenous peoples don’t get that luxury. So keep that in mind.”
On Friday, the city of Belleville will hold an event to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Market Square, beginning at 11:45 a.m.
A 24-hour National Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been created to provide support for former residential school students. Emotional crisis referral services can be accessed by calling 866-925-4419. Indigenous peoples across Canada can also go to the Hope for Wellness Help Line 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for counselling and crisis intervention. Call the toll-free line at 855-242-3310 or connect to the online chat.
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