“or is kent being a little boy”

ORANGE SHIRT DAY - September 30th

This day honours those who were taken from their homes and placed in residential schools around Canada. These schools forced Metis, Inuit, and First Nations children to disconnect from their culture and assimilate into Canadian society. It is important for the reconciliation process for the individuals and families that were affected by the residential schools.

Why...

September 30th? This was the time of year children were taken from their homes to the residential schools.

Orange? Phyllis Webstad, a former student and creator of orange shirt day, left for her first day at the residential school in her new orange shirt given to her by her grandmother. When she arrived, they took her brand new shirt away from her.

See below for what you can do:

[Image ID: Orange text on a white background reading:

"Orange Shirt Day

September 30th

What can you do?

accompanying each listed is a corresponding image of an orange minimal bookshelf, an orange list, and orange computer mouse pointer, a minimal circle of people, and a single book outlined in orange. /End ID]

So.

Another 751 unmarked graves were found at a Saskatchewan residential school.

Seven hundred fifty one.

This school, The Marieval Indian Residential School, operated from 1899 to 1997.

It was one of the last residential schools to close in Canada. One of more than 130. 

In case you didn’t know, residential schools were created to “cleanse” the people of Canada. These schools operated from 1831, when the Mohawk Institute Residential School opened, to 1996, when residential schools were finally outlawed.

That is 166 years of cultural genocide.

An estimated 150 000 children attended these schools, and an estimated 6 000 children died at these schools (current records of death are incomplete) 

These children were beaten, sexually abused, even experimented on. They were treated like prisoners, like they were sub-human. 

A child’s likelihood of dying in a residential school was one in twenty-five. In comparison, a Canadian World War 2 soldier’s odds of dying were one in twenty-six. 

I am not Indigenous. I cannot pretend to know how painful this may be. But what I can do is speak out. This inhumane treatment of citizens of Canada must be condemned. 

The government of Canada, and The Catholic Church, must. make. reparations. 

now that the media has continued on their roll of being disgusting in regards to how they treat such devastating situations such as the 215 lost indigenous children found in kamloops this past week, i absolutely encourage all of my canadian and non-canadian people on here to really look into and read about the history of residential schools in canada. this is one mass grave found at 1 of 139 residential schools across the country, we don't even know the half of what is still out there to be found. this is not just a 'devastating part of our history' the last one to close was in 1996, less than 30 years ago. this is our PRESENT, these children would have been elders in their community, guides, grandparents, this isn't history. this was a genocide, and the government of canada still refuses to acknowledge that.

some resources to peak at

this website belongs to the Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc community, and also provides a significant amount of important and informative resources.

the history of residential schools told from the perspective of indigenous people of canada - this website also provides other information in regards to the truth and reconciliation commission, as well as more information about how indigenous people's are still fighting for the truth to come out.

st anne's residential school in port albany, ontario was one of the worst of them all, and many of the indigenous children who were forced to attend are currently fighting for the entire truth to be revealed.

this entire website put out by UBC gives an informative and important look into the systematic racism that indigenous people's in canada still suffer under

these are just four of thousands of resources you can find about the devastation that residential schools caused, but i would absolutely encourage each and every one of you to look into and read about these 'schools'.