'Let's understand it': National Day for Truth and Reconciliation recognized in Regina

A sea of orange shirts made up the crowd of several events in Regina on Monday. Orange Shirt Day is recognized nationally, to reflect on truth and reconciliation efforts across Canada.

"Orange Shirt Day means that we are remembering the legacy of residential schools, but it's also a day of reckoning. Recognizing that not only are we recognizing the history of what residential schools have done to us in Saskatchewan and across Canada, but it's also about the policies created within the government in regards to taking children away from their families," explained Fawn Redwood, Indigenous engagement manager for the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Network (EDIN).

Redwood was one of many helping out at the Mamaweyatitan Centre for their healing walk and barbecue. While weather got in the way of an outdoor walk, the crowd took part in a round dance instead.

Roberta Williams, who also sits on the executive board of EDIN shared that she has been looking into her family history which can sometimes be difficult to find as Metis person.

"Finding out about my heritage and my ancestors, and doing this search to see where we came from has been very intriguing and brought awareness not only to myself, but even to my immediate family, including like my brothers and sharing all the information that I get to find out to share it with them," Williams said.

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It's a process she wanted to go through in order to be able to teach more to future generations.

"I think it's important because we don't want to lose what we've been taught and what we've learned, and to share that knowledge to pass it down so it continues to go through. Every generation is super important. We want our young children to remember, especially something like today, and how important it was, so they can continue telling everybody about truth and reconciliation and making a change in the world today," Williams said.

A frequent topic of the day were the mixed emotions that come along with Orange Shirt Day. While it is a time to mourn and reflect on the countless people harmed by colonization, it is also an opportunity to celebrate Indigenous culture.

"It's not just about intergenerational trauma, it's about the knowledge transferred as well, because there's also interaction, generational knowledge, laughter, love. All of that is still surviving and caring for today, regardless of the history that happened, we're still here. We're still thriving. We're still bringing back our culture with our language and everything else and that's evident today," Redwood said.

Roberta Williams (left) and Fawn Redwood (right) at the Mamaweyatitan centre in recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. (Hallee Mandryk/CTV News)

Similar sentiments were echoed across town by Howie Thomson, emcee for the Friendship Centre which hosted a gathering called 'Honouring Their Spirits.’

"It's a hurtful day, and it's, it's a happy day. Meaning people want to know what had happened. These people here, they can't believe that it happened in their own country, in their own little world, their backyard," Thomson said.

As a residential school survivor, Thomson expressed that being able to speak openly about what he and many others experienced is particularly important on Orange Shirt Day.

"We keep our we keep our kids close. We keep our love close. We keep our stories out in the open because we don't want to hide those stories. And then and we don't want to say we told you so, we just want to we just want everybody is to understand ending of the day," Thomson said.

Thomson spoke to one particular memory which he kept close to his chest for decades, until he realized the importance of sharing his experience from 1965.

"The story was there was two little boys ... and so these little boys came and they were probably four years old ... I was five, and they were younger than I was, and they were crying, and they were crying in their own language ... I asked the nuns what happened to those two little boys? And my answer that I got, and that's why I hushed it up so damn long, was 'if you really want to know where they are, you'll join them,’” he recalled.

Thomson went on to say that he still thinks of those two little boys anytime he sees orange grave markers outside of residential schools.

While much of the day created a space to mourn and think of the children who never came home, Thomson explained that days like this one provide an avenue of hope that people can continue to heal so long as the conversation keeps going.

"The grandfathers gave us a gift, and it's called humor, and it's called crying as well. So we can cry out our poison, we can cry out our hurt,” he explained.

“But at the end of the day, we have our children. We have our love ... It's not the word of, let's just get over it. It's the word of, let's understand it."