#national day for truth and reconciliation

[bossymarmalade]

- september 30th, national day for truth and reconciliation -

Survivors experienced horrific atrocities while prisoners in these institutions. It is important that this image show the love and strength that colonialism tried to steal from us. Despite genocide, we are still here – still fighting for justice and restitution, as true Warriors. - Dorene Bernard, Mi’kmaq Survivor who attended Shubenacadie Residential School

#chromatic voice #national day for truth and reconciliation #first nations #inuit #metis #missing and murdered indigenous women #mmiwcanada #residential schools #indigenous #turtle island #unceded land #survivor testimony #orange shirt day

[shadowkoo]

Every Child Matters

I try to share a similar post each year with the purpose of educating those who may not know about Canadian & American indigenous peoples and the struggles we have gone through generationally. But honestly, this year I am pissed off so my tone in some areas may read as such. I will not apologize for that.

I am angry that so many people don't know (not your fault, it's the media's fault and their lack of coverage up until recent years). I am angry at both countries' leaders for doing the bare minimum for many years. And I am angry that so much of my ancestor's history was removed and altered from the truth for centuries.

However, I am glad that with each passing year, more people are learning, and I truly appreciate those who care enough to show their support.

With that said, please mark your calendars and wear orange on September 30th! This is your official reminder! Please continue reading and consider sharing this post so more people are aware 🧡

September 30th is known as Orange Shirt Day, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, across Canada and North America in remembrance of those who suffered in US/Canadian Indian Residential Schools. We recognize the harm done to generations of children by the Indian Residential Schools and share our collective histories as an affirmation of our commitment to ensure that Every Child Matters! 

Remembering the 150,000+ Indigenous children who endured physical, mental, and sexual abuse at these residential schools; trauma that continues to be felt to this very day by survivors and their families.

Children were stolen around this time of year to attend these ‘schools’. Parents who fought to keep their kids would often be arrested and/or beaten, it was nearly impossible for them to keep their children once the police and school officials showed up to take them. And even once the school season was over, they were not returned to their families.

We knew many children had likely suffered and died from the abuse, but could have never guessed the atrocious number of remains that we are now finding.

As of May 2022, The remains of over 6,000 children have been recovered from unmarked graves at the locations of these former residential schools within Canada, and 500 have been discovered at 19 schools in the US. However, the Interior Department said that number could climb to the thousands or even tens of thousands.

For reference to help you digest how large the numbers will become when all schools have been properly investigated, there were approximately 139 schools in Canada and so far only (as of May 2022) 36 investigations have been completed in Canada. The US has identified more than 400 schools that were highly supported by the U.S. government during their operations, and more than 50 associated burial sites, a figure that could grow exponentially as research continues.

This wasn’t as long ago as you might think. The last residential school in Canada closed in 1998, only twenty-five years ago. As of 2020, 7 off-reservation boarding schools continue to be federally funded.

“Kill the Indian, Save the man” was a common phrase in these schools. Being Indians was savage, but we were ‘savable’ in the eyes of their Christian / Catholic God if we were stripped of the things that made us indigenous.

I am lucky enough to know survivors. I am alive because of survivors.

Survivors taught us younger generations about the horrors they dealt with in residential schools. Beaten, tortured, murdered. Watching other children die from diseases grown in their unclean living situations. ‘Forgetting’ what tribe a child is from and giving them to another reservation to care for until the following year when they’d be taken away again. Raped girls who survived traumatic births at a young age only for their babies to be thrown in the furnace. Sterilizing boys and girls so that if they were released they couldn’t create any more ‘indians’.

These children were ripped from their homes, watched their parents die if they fought to keep their children, were forced to cut their hair (our hair is as sacred as our traditional clothing), and beaten if caught speaking in their native languages. As a 'reward' for good behavior in school, certain children were sent away to live with white families as slaves to 'learn the white way' during long breaks between school periods. 

Keep the families of those who lost loved ones who never returned and the survivors who lived through unimaginable trauma in your hearts. On September 30th wear orange. Join a protest. Support indigenous peoples every day, but especially on September 30th (National Day for Truth and Reconciliation), June 21st (Canadian National Indigenous Peoples Day), and October 8th (American Indigenous Peoples Day). Share our stories. Educate yourself on our history, not the false history written in books by white men, churches, and governments that supported and endorsed these institutions.

Because Every Child Matters.

Resources where you can learn more:

Orange Shirt Society

CBC News - scroll to find the map

NPR

CBS News

CNN News

The Indigenous Foundation

#every child matters #🧡🧡🧡 #orange shirt day #september 30th #national day for truth and reconciliation #support indigenous peoples #support first nations #support native americans #bring them home #protect native rights #protect native land #important #boost #native americans #indigenous

[porterdavis]

Take a beat...

#national day for truth and reconciliation

[missegyptiana]

#orange shirt day #national day for truth and reconciliation #national truth and reconciliation day #indigenous #residential schools #tw murder #tw abuse #tw residential schools #tw indigenous violence #tw violence #tw death #indigenous children

[ladyimaginarium]

Hey nonnatives, reminder to please wear an orange shirt if you have one or at least something orange to support our indigenous turtle island communities, especially residential school survivors as well as survivors who have still been told since the closure of the residential schools in 1996 that their spirituality and religions are demonic! Tomorrow is Truth and Reconciliation Day, and we're& marching today on the walk that's being held today! There are over 1000 unmarked gravesites near residential schools all across the country and these children deserve to come home to their families! Know who's land you're on! Please support your native creatives!

#arcana.uploads #truth and reconciliation day #national day for truth and reconciliation #ndn tumblr #orange shirt day

[katherine-mcnamara]

Today is Orange Shirt Day, a day to remember all the lives tragically taken away by residential schools and to show your support to indigenous people. It is NOT the day to make fucking crude ass jokes in the tags for said day and also in the tags that indigenous people use to post tributes and resources to be reblogged.

I’m calling the PJO fandom out specifically because I’ve seen it happen twice now. Stop being so god damn vile. Making jokes about the fact its orange shirt day every day at camp half blood and the gods don’t think every child matters. How fucking dare all of you. Get out of the tag you absolute monsters.

Every Child Matters. Support and send love and appreciation to indigenous creators and people. Not just today but every day. They don’t deserve the utter disrespect on any day but especially on their specific days.

#every child matters #orange shirt day #i'm livid #sorry for any bad wording my hands are SHAKING #national day for truth and reconciliation

[canichangemyblogname]

Today is ORANGE SHIRT DAY

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is recognized across Canada and North America on September 30th in remembrance of the indigenous and first nations people who suffered in US and Canadian Residential Schools.

I've reblogged a couple posts on this already that I'd like people to check out, read through, and reblog. Each post has links to critical resources and information themselves that you should also look through:

Truth and Reconciliation Resources

Every Child Matters

Boost the voices of indigenous and first nations people today because Silence IS Violence.

#I am going to reblog this post periodically throughout the day #so that the most people can see it #Orange Shirt Day #National Day for Truth and Reconciliation #queued

[siemingly]

#my art #art #2022 #digital art #drawing #illustration #flowers #camas #poppy #national day for truth and reconciliation #metis #indigenous #orange shirt day

[deadlypastelcutieart]

This was yesturday, but I think it’s alright to post something to show support.

For those who don’t know, where I live yesturday was Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This became a new holiday in my country last year after the horrifying discovery of burial spots of the many indeginous children who unfortunitly died in the residential schools in the past. While this was horrifying and very sad to hear, we must remember the tragic events and learn in order to never repeat these mistakes in our culture again.

Honestly Indeginous people deserve more care and respect like any other people, and I actully love the indeginous culture! They have a very fasciating religion and culture!

But Im glad at least Canada had made this holiday a day to learn and to show support to the community. I did by wearing orange which is the color we wear to show solidarity and support. But I know there is still more we need to do to support the aboriginal community. So here’s something I drew based on the recent ad campaing that my province made to spread the word about the holiday.

To those in the indeginous community, I support you all and you all deserve more respect and love. 🧡🪶

And to all the victims of these residential schools who unfortunitly died, may you all rest in peace. 🕊

Every child matters!

#my art #original art #national day for truth and reconciliation #every child matters #apoligize for making this late! Homework really kept me busy yesturday

[rahabs]

The outfits I wore throughout the day for the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation (office vs home, day vs night).  My kokum was a Residential School Survivor, and died an early death because of it.  My aunt is counted among the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.  Of all my kokum’s seven siblings, only one is still living, and my other aunt died last year, with generational trauma being a contributing factor in her death.  Today I remember the family I never got to meet, and the family I was lucky enough to know before they were taken too young.  They may be gone but they are not forgotten.

oskîsik ☾- ☾ - ☾ the eye of

kohkominaw tipiskâwi-pîsim ☾- ☾ - ☾ Grandmother Moon

nisitohtam ☾- ☾ - ☾ so attuned

mitêh pakosêyihtamowin ☾- ☾ - ☾ to the heart’s longing

kikiskisomik ☾- ☾ - ☾ reminding

ita kâ-tipêyihtâkosiyan ☾- ☾ - ☾ of inherent belonging

êkwa kapê ☾- ☾ - ☾ and how

ta-wîcêwisk ☾- ☾ - ☾ she’ll always see you through.

#cheyenne's face #National Day for Truth and Reconciliation #Orange Shirt Day #Truth and Reconciliation

[cl0wnsexual]

September 30,

Orange Shirt Day

Let’s join hands in solidarity as we honour the indigenous children sent to residential schools in Canada.

#september 30 #orange shirt day #national day for truth and reconciliation

[bossymarmalade]

(I acknowledge that I live on the unceded territory of the šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmaɁɬ təməxʷ (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh-ulh Temíx̱w (Squamish), S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō), Stz’uminus and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations)

“The Survivors’ Flag is an expression of remembrance, meant to honour residential school Survivors and all the lives and communities impacted by the residential school system in Canada. Each element depicted on the flag was carefully selected by Survivors from across Canada, who were consulted in the flag’s creation.“ - the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

x.

#chromatic voice #first nations #national day for truth and reconciliation #coast salish #turtle island #missing and murdered indigenous women #mmiwg #canadian content #orange shirt day #every child matters #residential schools

[rhiannonforall]

#Truth and Reconciliation #national day for truth and reconciliation #Canada #CBC News

[himbeaux-on-ice]

i'm going to post below the cut the twitter links to two pieces i spent my morning reading (one in a single shot, the other in five parts) that deal with two different personal survivor stories, two different perspectives, of the intersection between the trauma of Residential Schools and the sport of hockey - the role of hockey in the lives of these men (Eugene Arcand and Doug Happyjack) both as a part of that trauma, and as an escape from it.

considering the part hockey plays in the cultural iconography and myth-making of Canada (and especially white, settler-colonial Canada), as contrasted with the sport's history of multi-faceted origins and (oft-erased) diverse innovators and pioneers, this feels especially potent, and appropriate for this blog on this day. like much of the sport's history, this connection is complicated, nuanced, and composed of a mosaic of individual experiences in which no singular perspective is universal.

these are of course not easy reads, but keeping the trigger warnings (institutional abuse and child neglect, child abuse, sexual abuse, genocide, substance abuse, racial harassment) and your own mental health in mind, i think they are necessary ones. i think especially that those of us who are not Indigenous have a certain obligation to listen, to know, and to not look away in discomfort. the obligations go so much further than that, but that is the bare minimum of where we can at the very least begin. not just today, but every day.

please be respectful of people's trauma and experiences in any reblogs, replies or tags on this post, or in the replies of the tweets and articles linked below. engage in these difficult conversations with sensitivity and consent. thank you.

Doug Happyjack's story:

Eugene Arcand's story:

#residential schools #national day for truth and reconciliation #orange shirt day #hockey #residential school survivors #every child matters #long post #i hope this was as tactful as i tried to make it

[missegyptiana]

i know this is just for canada but i think it’s important to let everyone know on here what september 30th is! on that day, please reflect on what happened to Indigenous families and children and how affected they were. it’s very important! here is the link about it!

#national truth and reconciliation day #september 30th #indigenous #orange shirt day #residential schools #lost children #important #sb #national day for truth and reconciliation #canada

[frettchanstudios]

Orange Shirt Day is coming up and you still have time to purchase a shirt with my Bear Paw design from @leading_edge_promo. @yorkvilleu is carrying these shirts at their campus store as well. For more details about the campaign please visit Leading Edge Promo

#every child matters #indigenous art #orange shirt day #artist #frettchan studios #national day for truth and reconciliation #truth and reconciliation #wear orange #indigenous artist #bear paw #native art