To raise awareness to the residents of The Region of Durham what Orange Shirt Day represents in Canada. The Truth and Reconciliation report from 2015 put forward many recommendations. One of them being the Residential School System. For over a century, the central goals of Canada’s Aboriginal policy were to eliminate Aboriginal governments; ignore Aboriginal rights; terminate the Treaties; and, through a process of
assimilation, cause Aboriginal peoples to cease to exist as distinct legal, social, cultural, religious, and racial entities in Canada. The establishment and operation of residential schools were a central element of this policy, which can best be described as”cultural genocide.”
http://www. trc. ca/assets/pdf/Honouring_ the_ Truth_ Reconciling_for the Future July_ 23_2015. pdf
Highlights of the week include:
- A message from Cheif Kelly LaRoca Mississaugas of Scugog Island
- Welcome from Mary George President of Bawaajigewin
- Proclamation of the day and weeks events from The Regional Municipality of Durham, The City of Pickering, The Town of Ajax, The Town of Whitby, The City of Oshawa and The Municipality of Clarington
- All Our Relations Metis Drum Circle
- Reading from Oshawa Public Library
- Carea holding an Orange Shirt Day event
- St. Paul’s Circle of Indigenous Friends & Advocates week-long event
- How to make an orange shirt pin
Click here to view the online events.