Manitoba prepares to mark Orange Shirt Day

Saturday marks National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, or Orange Shirt Day, in Canada – a day to honour those who were forced to attend residential schools and the ones who never made it home.

Sue Caribou went to Guy Hill residential school near The Pas, Manitoba from 1970-1978. She was just seven when she was forced to attend the Roman Catholic-run school. During that time, her parents were murdered, and a dozen of her family members were either missing or were murdered.

“My family used to dread September, that’s when we all went back to residential school,” explained Caribou.

Caribou says Sept. 30 is a hard day for survivors like herself. She says if governments want to achieve true reconciliation, then the decision not to search the landfill by PC Leader Heather Stefanson must be reversed.

“[It] would be a true reconciliation for a lot of people. If they want reconciliation, then they should search the landfills for our loved ones,” said Caribou.

Residential school survivor Vivian Ketchum says it’s important for Canadians not to forget about this tragic history.

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“I’m getting older and us survivors are passing away. They won’t be there to share their stories. Let’s not forget them. Let’s not forget us,” explained Ketchum.

Katherine Strongwind says survivors have been telling their stories about the horrors of residential schools for decades, but she says the turning point for many was the discovery of unmarked graves in Kamloops back in 2021.

“That’s when society as a whole realized that this was real, that there were children who were buried at school sites, which is really horrific. That was a turning point for society to continue this conversation about reconciliation and how we can support survivors and their families going forward,” said Strongwind.

Back in April, Stefanson and the Manitoba PCs decided not to make Orange Shirt Day a statutory holiday, which received backlash. Both the Manitoba NDP and Manitoba Liberals have vowed to make National Day for Truth and Reconciliation a stat holiday if elected on October 3rd.

Only B.C., P.E.I., the N.W.T., Nunavut, and Yukon have designated Sept. 30 as a stat holiday. Wayne Mason, the Executive Director of Wa-Say Healing Centre, says there is an opportunity for the next leader of Manitoba to make a difference.

“Understanding and recognizing Orange Shirt Day and what it means to the Indigenous people, and to understand the history, what had happened. How can you make things right? Make it a stat holiday. Talk to the Indigenous people, talk to the survivors. They say they do, well back it up,” said Mason. “Sept. 30 is a day to wear an orange shirt, and that orange shirt represents what happened in those schools.”