Orange Shirt Day at The Confluence is just one of the events happening on Monday; Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park, Pokaiks ‘The Children’ Commemorative Walk and Speak Up! At Studio Bell are among the many others
People across Calgary are prepared to honour National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, with several events planned in the city.
Monday, Sept. 30 will mark the fourth year since National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was introduced as federal statutory holiday, although Orange Shirt day has been honoured since 2013.
On Sunday, Indigenous peoples and elders gathered for several events at Heritage Park, ahead of the official holiday.
One of the goals for Heritage Park is to start creating traditions around the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, said Nicole Henbrey, the park’s Indigenous programming specialist.
“A big part of that was bringing in residential school survivors and those who have been impacted by that, and creating a culturally safe and ethical space for these conversations to happen,” Henbrey said.
Truth and reconciliation is something that she hopes they will expand throughout the park in time.
Henbrey, who’s also Indigenous, said during Truth and Reconciliation Day, she’ll be grieving.
“I’ll be grieving; as a First Nation person, it’s hard to have that reminder — so I’ll take the day for some self-care and honoring my family,” she said.
‘Everybody had a story’
Joe Starlight, a member of Tsuut’ina Nation, spoke in front of more than 100 people at Heritage Park on Sunday, sharing his stories and experiences of having two parents who went to residential schools.
“The experiences my parents went through filtered onto us, and the ‘filtration’ was based on a system that wasn’t ours, it was forced upon us,” Starlight said.
He said that the residual effects of that system have left many people bitter or angry.
Acknowledgement is the way forward, according to Starlight.
“We must acknowledge each other to make this thing work. If you have two people yelling on each side of the table, nobody hears anything,” he said. “Now nobody’s yelling; so finally, people are hearing.”
Starlight challenged people to understand the meaning of the orange shirt.
“Make it your favourite shirt so that you love it so much that you cherish and then, imagine somebody stealing it away from you,” he said. “My mother had a story too . . . it was about a coat, the men had their braids cut off, right? So everybody had a story.”
‘Come with an open mind and come with open ears’
Heritage Park hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for shade structures for Indigenous staff and programming, which are being funded by the Rotary Club of Calgary Heritage Park.
“We had the traditional groundbreaking so that we could honour the land in which these shelters are going to be built upon,” said Diane Kashuba, director, fund development at Heritage Park.
Kashuba said the structures are set to open in May 2025, and are designed with elements of traditional powwow shelters.
Daniel Little Leaf Carton is a Blood Tribe member whose booth was set up at Heritage Park Sunday afternoon.
Carton says truth and reconciliation is about acknowledging the past and moving forward, but at the same time not forgetting.
“There’s a lot of ‘blocking,’ like trying to get rid of school names, but I don’t think they should do that,” he said. “Keep them, but explain what was wrong with them, the ideology they were pushing, rather than erase the past.”
Regarding National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, he said, “Come with an open mind and come with open ears.”
Walk to be held for Jon Wells
“It feels like a step back,” Carton said. “I know a lot of, especially male, natives are scared of police still; I know I am.”
Dedicated to Wells, the walk is being organized by his family.
— With files from Mackenzie Rhode, Noah Brennan and Matt Scace