Today is Orange Shirt Day. I am not a big fan of special days. Yes, I understand that it is a way of raising awareness. Yes, we need to take note of days like today. But, more often than not, after the day, we forget all about the issue.Orange Shirt Day is about educating people and promoting awareness about the residential school system and the impact this system had on Indigenous communities.
This twitter link points to a video of the unveiling on a 50m long ceremonial cloth, of the names of children who attended & died at Canadian residential schools.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1178683983120535552
Arthur Shilling, who was in residential schools, was known for using bright colours in his paintings. The story is told that one of the reasons for this is he could only use charcoal to draw on the underside of his bunk.
There is a whole industry around supplying orange shirts. A couple of question:
- Who makes these shirts?
- How many of these shirts are part of our throw-away clothing culture?
My Orange Shirt today is one I have worn for several years, it's a technical running shirt from a race in Alliston.
A bigger concern on this Orange Shirt Day is that we ignore all the other abuses and non-action by our governments (Federal and Provincial).
- It is shameful that we have first nations communities without access to clean water.
- It is shameful that we have moved (pushed is probably a better word) first nations communities to reservations that get flooded almost every year. The Trudeau government said he would fix the problem within ten (10) years… that is so sad and so meaningless.
- It is shameful that the Grassy Narrows or Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation has suffered from mercury poisoning for many years. The Dryden Chemical company discharged their effluent, including approximately 10 tons (20,000 pounds) of mercury, into the Wabigoon-English River system. between 1962 and 1970. And since then the Federal and Provincial Conservative and Liberal governments occasionally make promises and throw a little bit of money at the problem, but have essentially ignored the issue.
So wear an Orange Shirt today, but don't forget why you wore it tomorrow. Don't forget all the other very real ways in which we have disparaged our first peoples.
1 comment:
The main purpose of education is to help students gain the knowledge and skills so that they will be able to function in society. Students need to be provided with the necessary skills so that they can learn to become productive citizens. There are many advantages that are associated with receiving an education. Students will be able to contribute to their community and help make it a better place to live. Education basically helps shape society because it helps students learn to become more sociable and helps them develop relationships with their peers. Students will be more qualified for different job positions if they have a good solid education. Education is vital to each student’s life, therefore, by working hard to provide the best instruction possible will help train students to become future leaders and will lead to a better life.
Education is essential to every student’s life as well as their future. Students can have a prosperous life by receiving a good quality education. My thoughts are that students need to learn from the books along with other various materials just as I did while growing up. The classroom curriculum should be decided by their teacher and the teacher should set clear goals as to what is expected from the students. Students should work hard to achieve their goals because it will certainly be worth it in the end. According to essentialism, ‘Schools should not radically try to reshape society but schools should transmit traditional moral values and intellectual knowledge that students need to become model citizens’. Read about education help at http://www.top-essay-writing-service.com . The school should stress the importance of values because some children are not taught these at home. Teaching children good values helps build their character and helps them become respectable people. In regards to education, I think society is important because this is a place where we all live so we should work to make it a better place.
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