There are no small gestures in Truth and Reconciliation.
The absolute truth is that most of my life, I was borderline indifferent about indigenous issues. Indigenous life was never discussed in my world. It was not taught in school. Outside of knowing about “Indian land” on the South Shore of the Montreal region and being exposed to the appropriation of indigenous imagery by white-owned sports teams, I just never really thought about it.
That’s terrible. It’s unjust.
In recent years, of course, things have started to change. I’m grateful for that.
Starting with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the public discourse on indigenous life in Canada has begun to change. White and other non-indigenous people are paying attention. Not enough, mind you, but it’s starting.
A few weeks ago, my wife and I had the privilege of hosting our MP, who is also Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marc Garneau, during the recent election campaign. The first domestic subject our group brought up with him was Truth and Reconciliation — and he was very direct about it.
He said it was his view that Residential Schools and the unjust treatment of our indigenous peoples were a “made in Canada problem that required a made in Canada solution.”
One of the most significant things he said was that he believes it will take generations for change to really happen, but that the work has to be done now to get the process started. I really respect that viewpoint and I agree with it.
Today is Sept, 30 , 2021: The first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada, coinciding with Orange Shirt Day. As I type this on my computer, I’m wearing an orange shirt. It’s a relatively small gesture, but it’s important. It means when millions of Canadians woke up this morning, we made a conscious decision to take a specific action in honour of reconciliation. It made us actively think and hopefully reflect.
When I turned on TSN this morning to catch up on yesterday’s sports news, the anchors were wearing orange t-shirt pins on their lapels. I switched to CBC and our country’s first indigenous Governor General, Mary Simon, was giving a speech to start the day.
As our kids left for school, we asked them if they knew why they were wearing orange shirts, and they instantly told us of the story of Phyllis Webstad — the inspiration for Orange Shirt Day.
When I was growing up, we didn’t talk about people like Phyllis Webstad or Mary Simon. At best, we touched on which indigenous people was allied with what European power during the time of colonization, and that was more or less it for the history of indigenous life.
I was really proud that our kids were taking an action by putting on an orange shirt, and even more so that they knew and appreciated why.
To our 10, 7, and 5-year-old children, having an indigenous child lose her beautiful orange shirt and her identity stripped away is a shameful act. As kids, they might not really understand the significance of the horrors of the Residential School system, but they’re learning about it now so that when they’re my age, they won’t look back and think indifferently like people of my generation used to.
When our parents generation was growing up, they played “Cowboys and Indians”… the “Indians” were always the bad guys. When we were growing up, we liberally substituted Cowboys and Indians for Cops and Robbers… the cops, of course, being equivalent to the cowboys, and the robbers subbing in for the Indians. It wasn’t right or wrong at the time, it just was.
But we know better now. We’re teaching better. We’re working towards reconciliation in myriad ways — one of the closest to my heart being the wave of re-branding of white-owned sports teams that had appropriated indigenous imagery for both profit and pleasure.
If our kids are any indication, and I believe they are, we’re moving in the right direction… but we have a long road ahead.
So be proud to wear orange in honour of Phyllis Webstad and the indigenous people of this land. Think about them and their struggles today. Engage with them. We are neighbours. We are friends. We should act as partners for the future of this country.
The land has been colonized. Canada is not going anywhere. We can be proud of our country, but we can’t be proud of how our country has treated the indigenous people of its land. We must do better.
It starts with wearing orange today. Where it goes from there is up to all of us.
