Orange Shirt Day Assembly Sept 25th, 2018

Orange Shirt Day: A Day to Remember Children Taken to Residential Schools

What is Orange Shirt Day?

On Friday September 28^th, 2018 HWDSB will be celebrating and commemorating the lives and survivors of Canada’s Residential Schools.  In Ontario alone, there were approximately 130 Indian Residential Schools, including locally, the Mohawk Institute in Brantford, also referred to as the Mush Hole.  Indigenous children as young as 2 years old to 16 years old were taken from their parents, families and communities, some to never be seen again.

Orange Shirt Day is about learning the history of Residential schools and how it still affects people today. We wear orange to honour the lives of Indigenous children who were taken from their homes and families, to live in residential schools. Wearing orange shows that we care, and we won’t forget.

On Tuesday September 25^th the grade one to eight students of Ridgemount will have the opportunity to attend an assembly to find out more about this with our guest speaker, Della Chenier, FireHawk Woman. Della is a member of the Indigenous community and a Ridgemount family member. She will be speaking with each group to help students better understand the historical and ongoing impact of Residential Schools in Canada on Indigenous youth, their families and their communities.

Due to the sensitivity of the topic (removal of children from their homes, loss of identity, culture, language, spirituality, knowledge systems, land), please do not hesitate to contact administration to discuss any concerns or questions that you may have regarding the content, or if you have concerns specific to your child’s needs on this day, or in the days or weeks following.  The Ridgemount team will work with you to help address any concerns or issues.

Following the assembly, classes will be encouraged to continue their learning.  Depending on the class, this may look very different  (eg.  literature, reflections, art project).  Students will then have the opportunity to have their work showcased in the front entrance area on Friday September 28^th when the entire HWDSB joins together to celebrate and commemorate Orange Shirt Day.

If you would like more information in general as a starting point to learn more about Orange Shirt Day, please consider visiting these sites.

• www.orangeshirtday.org
• Truth and Reconciliation www.trc.ca

Thank you,

Mr. Carey – Principal

Mrs. Panju – Vice Principal