In the orange-filled courtyard following Humber's Walk for Reconciliation, second-year student Daniel Esquega spoke his truth about what this day means to him as a man from Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek (Gull Bay First Nation).
"It's a day of mourning, but being able to express it in a way which through Phyllis Webstad's story, definitely resonates with a lot of our elders and all our close relatives that had to endure that," Esquega said. "I think the orange shirt is kind of a way to feel and kind of share the same pain in a similar way. It's kind of like the definition of an emotion."
Sept. 30, the day now officially recognized as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, began in 2013 as the Orange Shirt Day movement from the story of one woman who is a residential school survivor.
Northern Secwepemc author and activist, Phyllis Webstad was six years old when she was forced to leave her home in the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation in British Columbia to attend St. Joseph Mission Residential school.
Webstad arrived on her first day at the school in an orange shirt she had picked out with her grandmother. She has described being stripped of her identity upon arrival, her hair cut and clothes taken, including the orange shirt that she never saw again.
For Webstad, orange became a colour associated with the silencing of her expression. The month of September reminded her of a time when children were sent to residential school.
Webstad created Orange Shirt Day in 2013 to reclaim what was once taken from her and every child forced to attend residential school.
Call to Action 80 brought forth the federal government's establishment of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and officially recognized it as a federal holiday in 2021.
Second-year Humber student Samuel Ogunshona recalled what he could remember about Webstad's movement.
“Orange [shirt] day was for a kid that got kept somewhere or something like that,” Ogunshona said. “I heard about the story a long time ago.”
In response to National Day of Truth and Reconciliation some students at Humber have trouble explaining the history behind the land acknowledgement on every course outline.
When asked about the meaning of the land acknowledgements, third-year student Daniel Bastidas could connect it to the Orange Shirt Day movement.
“It has something to do with the Natives,” Bastidas said.
Humber Polytechnic is built on land belonging to the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. The Humber River watershed was a connection for three different First Nations, the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat.
In response to the misunderstanding among some students, Esquega said "It can be very intimidating. I know so because I felt that way towards other people's cultures. I just say don't be afraid, there's a lot to learn because I think a lot of people could use this knowledge."
The Ontario Ambassador for the Orange Shirt Society and Webstad’s cousin Sheena Merling said as a proud Anishinaabe-Haudenosaunee woman it’s important to her that people personalize land acknowledgements, instead of just reciting them.
“When it comes to land acknowledgements, I want people to make it their own,” Merling said. “Don't read off of a piece of paper. Speak from your heart. Your truth is all you have, without truth, there's no reconciliation.”
Merling said it’s important to honour Indigenous truth and reconciliation in the 364 days that surround National Truth and Reconciliation Day.
While there is a lack of awareness and misunderstanding among some students, college educators are working on making changes to deepen the conversations and improve knowledge of Canada’s Indigenous history.
Humber professor of Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Perspectives on Music, Film, and Media Heather Watts spoke about the educator’s role in changing Canada’s future.
“Think about the people who have to implement that, who have to be the teachers of those things if they have a poor education in Indigenous ways of knowing or history, but now you’re expecting them to rise to the occasion,” she said.
Watts said it’s important to peel back the layers of misinformation and to understand change can only happen so quickly.
“I’m at OISE [Ontario Institute for Studies in Education] as a doctoral student, and I can hear the conversations that people are having in teacher education programs,” Watts said. “They’re talking about these things. In the next two to three years, those will be people who are teaching this next generation.”
Indigenous Curriculum Specialist, Aaron Sykes, who is part Indigenous Education and Engagement at Humber said there has been a lot of focus on incorporating Indigenous education in a variety of programs.
“At Humber, we are working to ensure that graduates of every program will have some sort of Indigenous content where it makes sense and is appropriate in that program,” he said. “This is a big, long goal. This will take years.”
Indigenous Education and Engagement has already begun implementing new pathways of educating both students and faculty through the Indigenous Education Plan, training workshops, and developing courses across all three Humber campuses.
Humber will see two new courses for faculty, the Land as First Teacher, an asynchronous online course and Indigenous Foundations. It is another stride in increasing educators’ knowledge of Indigenous history, educational practices, pedagogies, and impacts in the different Humber programs, Sykes said.
This year, as a part of Indigenous Education Month, all students and faculty can attend workshops on cultural teachings at the annual Indigenous Knowledges Gathering from Nov. 18 to 20.
Maya Amparo Correia, a first-year early childhood education student, said it is important to recognize Indigenous people were here first.
“It means that we’re recognizing that this isn’t our land,” Amparo Correia said.
“We’re just living on it, essentially, and we’re showing that respect and it’s the first step in reconciling what we’ve done.”
