National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day, was marked with a special ceremony at Na’tsa’maht on Camosun College’s Lansdowne campus on Sept. 26.
This year's theme, Allies Alongside: From Reconciliation to ReconciliAction, is an invitation to move from learning to doing, according to Julian Gunn, member of the English Department Indigenization Working Group.
"All of us, especially settlers and allies of survivors, we'll be learning all the way along. But I would love it if this was the year we all found a way to take action, we all found a way to enter that active phase of our allyship."
Camosun College began the day with an educational round table workshop where participants shared insights and strategies for approaching allyship as educators and members of the college community and discussed what their responsibilities are to walk alongside indigenous peoples moving forward.
The afternoon ceremony started with a welcome from Brianna Bear, Coast Salish Knowledge Keeper and artist, followed by remarks from Elders Doug and Kathy LaFortune, as well as Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.
Orange-shirt-clad guests filled the beautiful Na’tsa’maht gathering place where a ring of chairs with blankets for the elders were arranged around a ceremonial cedar around the fire pit.
Orange Shirt Day is not only about recognizing those who have gone to residential schools and who have not survived, Dr. Todd Ormiston, executive director, Eye? Sqa’lewen: The Centre for Indigenous Education & Community Connections, said.
"It's also about those who have survived and the generations that have followed to make sure that we're not suppressed, repressed or oppressed like we were within the last 100-150 years. So, we all have responsibilities on how we're going to understand and learn about that history."
This is the first time, since the first Orange Shirt Day ceremony at Camosun in 2015, the English Department spearheaded the annual event.
