Every Child Matters
Orange Shirt Day Preparation Activities/Videos/Discussion
Join us and hundreds of others across Canada and wear an orange shirt on September 30th to honour the children who survived the Indian Residential Schools and remember those that didn’t. Every Child Matters. We will wear orange shirts in recognition of the harm the residential school system did to children’s sense of self-esteem and well-being, and as an affirmation of our commitment to ensure that everyone around us matters.
Join us and hundreds of others across Canada and wear an orange shirt on September 30th to honour the children who survived the Indian Residential Schools and remember those that didn’t. Every Child Matters. We will wear orange shirts in recognition of the harm the residential school system did to children’s sense of self-esteem and well-being, and as an affirmation of our commitment to ensure that everyone around us matters.
Founder Phyllis Webstad:
- What do you think about this video?
- Can you connect with it in any way?
- What are your feelings towards this video?
- What changes would you like to see?
What is Reconciliation?
- What do you think about this video?
- Can you connect with it in any way?
- What are your feelings towards this video?
- What changes would you like to see?
When I was Eight. (Story is about 11 minutes long)
- What do you think about this video?
- Can you connect with it in any way?
- What are your feelings towards this video?
- What changes would you like to see?
Other Resources:
Stories to Discuss
Read this to the students:
Story:
The Story Behind Orange Shirt Day “I went to the Mission for one year. I had just turned 6 years old. We never had very much money, and there was no welfare, but somehow my granny managed to buy me a new outfit to go to the Mission School in. I remember going to Robinson’s store and picking out a shiny orange shirt. It had eyelets and lace, and I felt so pretty in that shirt and excited to be going to school! Of course, when I got to the Mission, they stripped me, and took away my clothes, including the orange shirt. I never saw it again, except on other kids. I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t give it back to me, it was mine! Since then the colour orange has always reminded me of that and how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and how I felt like I was worth nothing. I finally get it, that the feeling of worthlessness and insignificance, ingrained in me from my first day at the mission, affected the way I lived my life for many years...I want my orange shirt back!”
Phyllis (Jack) Webstad, Dog Creek, BC
Discuss:
Activity Bearing Witness:
Survivor Story (duration varies) Read aloud the Survivor testimony below.
Elsie Paul: A Survivor Remembers While Elsie attended the Sechelt Indian Residential School :
“[I remember] kids never having enough to eat. I think back on those days and I wonder was it during the Depression. Was that why there was so little food? Was it because food was rationed at that time? I guess in my own mind I’m trying to justify or make excuses why we didn’t have enough food. There was plenty of food on the table of the people who looked after us. There was butter on that table. We had fat on our bread. That’s what they put on our bread, one slice of bread per meal. The spread that was on there was beef fat or pork fat. When you do your duty and go to clean up the table of the caregivers and you see a beautiful setting there and they have a good choice of food... ...Mostly [at home] we lived on game, deer meat, and a lot of seafood prepared traditionally. That was all I knew, my grandmother’s cooking. We had fried bread or oven bread, jam or dried fruits, dried meat, dried fish and clams. Those were all the foods I was familiar with. And to get [to school] and to have a dish of some sort of stew put in front of me that I was not familiar with at all . . . It must have been pork stew. I remember the rind being in the stew with the hair on it, with fur on it, and the child next to me was saying that you have to eat that food or else you’re going to be punished if you don’t. I think I blanked it out. I don’t know if I ate it.”
Ask students if they have any questions or comments. Ask them to think about the importance of food, family meals, the cultural significance of foods, traditional diets, etc.
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Read this to the students:
Story:
The Story Behind Orange Shirt Day “I went to the Mission for one year. I had just turned 6 years old. We never had very much money, and there was no welfare, but somehow my granny managed to buy me a new outfit to go to the Mission School in. I remember going to Robinson’s store and picking out a shiny orange shirt. It had eyelets and lace, and I felt so pretty in that shirt and excited to be going to school! Of course, when I got to the Mission, they stripped me, and took away my clothes, including the orange shirt. I never saw it again, except on other kids. I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t give it back to me, it was mine! Since then the colour orange has always reminded me of that and how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and how I felt like I was worth nothing. I finally get it, that the feeling of worthlessness and insignificance, ingrained in me from my first day at the mission, affected the way I lived my life for many years...I want my orange shirt back!”
Phyllis (Jack) Webstad, Dog Creek, BC
Discuss:
- Did you learn about residential schools in the past? What do you have to share?
- How do we learn from our past experiences and the experiences of others?
Activity Bearing Witness:
Survivor Story (duration varies) Read aloud the Survivor testimony below.
Elsie Paul: A Survivor Remembers While Elsie attended the Sechelt Indian Residential School :
“[I remember] kids never having enough to eat. I think back on those days and I wonder was it during the Depression. Was that why there was so little food? Was it because food was rationed at that time? I guess in my own mind I’m trying to justify or make excuses why we didn’t have enough food. There was plenty of food on the table of the people who looked after us. There was butter on that table. We had fat on our bread. That’s what they put on our bread, one slice of bread per meal. The spread that was on there was beef fat or pork fat. When you do your duty and go to clean up the table of the caregivers and you see a beautiful setting there and they have a good choice of food... ...Mostly [at home] we lived on game, deer meat, and a lot of seafood prepared traditionally. That was all I knew, my grandmother’s cooking. We had fried bread or oven bread, jam or dried fruits, dried meat, dried fish and clams. Those were all the foods I was familiar with. And to get [to school] and to have a dish of some sort of stew put in front of me that I was not familiar with at all . . . It must have been pork stew. I remember the rind being in the stew with the hair on it, with fur on it, and the child next to me was saying that you have to eat that food or else you’re going to be punished if you don’t. I think I blanked it out. I don’t know if I ate it.”
Ask students if they have any questions or comments. Ask them to think about the importance of food, family meals, the cultural significance of foods, traditional diets, etc.
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Some of these lessons are longer, but this is a great resource moving forward with social responsibility in the classroom and schools.
Project of Heart
http://projectofheart.ca/teacher-guideslesson-plans/
Additional Resources:
Additional Resources and Activities for any time of the year and in the classroom.