B.C. to recognize National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as stat

The B.C. government is moving to recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a provincial statutory day off.

B.C. introduced a bill Tuesday morning to make Sept. 30 a “statutory holiday,” aligning the province with four other provinces and territories across Canada — Prince Edward Island, Nunavut, Yukon, and Northwest Territories — which all formally recognize the day as a stat.

Cowichan Nation member Eddy Charlie, a Kuper Island Residential School Survivor, and Victoria Orange Shirt Day organizer, says he and fellow organizer Kristen Spray are honoured that the province decided to bring forward the national stat and make it a law.

Cowichan Nation member Eddy Charlie, a Kuper Island Residential School Survivor, and Victoria Orange Shirt Day organizer, says he and fellow organizer Kristen Spray are honoured that the province decided to bring forward the national stat and make it a law. (CityNews)

“We feel it’s really important that people hear the story about residential schools, the impact that has on children who were taken away from their homes when they were tiny; The impact that happened when the children were released into their communities … because of the abuse that they experienced at residential schools,” he said.

“Today, 50 years after I left residential school, I still wake up every day with remembrance of what happened to me as a child, and there are still thousands and thousands of [people] who must wake up every morning with that thought that many bad things happened to them when they were children,” he said.

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Charlie says Sept. 30, also known as “Orange Shirt Day”, will allow for the honouring of residential school Survivors, and a day to reflect and have “meaningful conversations” about what the day means.

“Because we all have a responsibility to make our country, our communities, our families, our schools, and our government responsible, caring, and loving,” he said.

Orange Shirt Day founder and Xgat’tem First Nation member Phyllis Webstad spoke of her childhood, and how her orange shirt was taken from her at St. Joseph’s Residential School, near Williams Lake.

“We chose September because that’s the time of the year the children were taken from their homes and their families. We chose the 30th because we wanted teachers time to settle in time to teach the children about what happened and time for us to plan an event,” she explained.

“There is no longer an excuse for anybody, no matter what age to not know what happened to us, and the history behind residential schools and the intergenerational impact.

“Orange Shirt Day was created to have a conversation … about residential schools, to honour Survivors and their families, and to remember those that never made it home. That’s what Orange Shirt Day was created for. Sept. 30 will always be orange shirt day first,” she said.

Creating the day of reflection initially for the Cariboo-Chilcotin area, Webstad says she never dreamed of what the day has become.

“It is a symbol all across Canada for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to have conversations and honour Survivors, and remember those that never made it home. I look forward to being here when we can say that definitely, ‘Yes, it is a stat holiday in B.C.'”

Province says B.C. must confront the truth of its history

Flanked by the residential school Survivors at a news conference, B.C.’s Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Murray Rankin says the announcement has been “a long time coming.”

“The residential school system attempted to assimilate Indigenous peoples by stripping them of their culture their language, their connection to their family and community and to the land. Many Indigenous children suffered physical, emotional, psychological, and sexual abuse at these institutions. And sadly, many Indigenous children died at them,” he said.

“This is the heavy truth of our history that we must confront as British Columbians and as Canadians. … As a government we have a platform to engage and educate British Columbians about our history. It is important that non-Indigenous people know that history so we can better build relations with indigenous people from a place of humility, empathy and respect.

“As a province, we must build a culture of commemoration and remembrance so that future generations know this history. The legislation introduced today represents one more step on that path, and we owe nothing less to future generations,” he said.