Students in Nova Scotia got hands on experience to help them understand the importance of Orange Shirt Day beyond just wearing the colour.
“We held a very small kind of teaching. Mawiomi, so a gathering for the kids, and there was five stations in which they all were able to engage in a cultural practice,” said Arlea Walsh, the culture and language lead for Mi’kmaw education services with Halifax Regional Centre for Education.
“There was crafting, we had drumming, we had dancers, we had a cultural teaching of the Seven Sacred Teachings, and then we also had lacrosse which is our medicine game,” said Walsh.
The gathering was held at Bell Park Academic Centre in Lake Echo, N.S., ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
“We are commemorating and remembering those who didn’t come home. So, it’s identifying with those kids the history of our country and what has happened, and also for them to learn to honour those children,” said Walsh. “It’s also important because Indigenous culture is the first culture in particular of Mi’kma’ki.”
Walsh hopes the students who participated in the teachings will take those lessons with them.
“It was really moving when we see the kids all dressed in orange, but it’s not so much being dressed in orange, but it’s also having them provide you the understanding of why they’re wearing the orange shirt.”
Nova Scotia students learned about Orange Shirt Day on Sept. 27, 2024. (Source: Stephanie Tsicos/CTV News Atlantic)
Elsewhere, Conseil scolaire acadien (CSAP) provincial held a special ceremony on Membertou First Nation.
“That was very rich in and of itself for having students come into our communities and see our culture. That was, to me, just amazing,” said Danielle Root, Mi’kmaw education coordinator with CSAP.
The ceremony was shared with Francophone schools across Nova Scotia.
Root said it was particularly special to her to hear and understand the Mi’kmaw language.
“That almost brings tears to my eyes because that was my mom’s first language and my giju’. You know, the residential schools, it was not too long ago that it was against the law to speak our own language and it’s such a beautiful language,” said Root.
This was the fourth annual ceremony held by CSAP. The hope is to have it move to another community next year.
