September 30 is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation – also known as Orange Shirt Day – a day to recognize the survivors and victims of residential schools, acknowledge the painful impacts of colonialism on Indigenous people and continue to advance the process of reconciliation.
This year, MacEwan University will pause regular classroom instruction and instead focus the entire day on events and activities that provide education, community connection and tools to assist the MacEwan community in understanding the role we all play in truth and reconciliation.
Providing educational opportunities, rather than closing the university entirely, was a carefully considered decision made by the university’s General Faculties Council in consultation with university leadership, including leaders from the kihêw waciston Indigenous Centre. The determination was that, as a post-secondary institution, MacEwan has a responsibility to facilitate education on critical issues. “What better way to honour our place in O-Day’min on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation than to roll up our sleeves and really dig into the work of reconciliation,” says Dr. Annette Trimbee, president of MacEwan University. “That work requires coming together to listen, to learn and to chart a course forward as an institution and as a community.”
All students, faculty and staff are encouraged to take part in the day’s events, which include teaching and learning walks guided by Elders and knowledge keepers, sessions discussing residential schools and their continued impact on Indigenous peoples, sharing circles, campus beading activities and a two-spirit drop-in with the Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity. Participants are also encouraged to wear orange shirts.
A unique element of this year’s events is that they will be organized and facilitated by staff and faculty from across university faculties and departments – including both Indigenous and non-Indigenous members of the MacEwan community – rather than relying solely on the kihêw waciston Indigenous Centre.
“With the discovery of unmarked graves on sites of former residential schools, this year has been emotionally difficult for many and, in particular, for our Indigenous colleagues and communities,” explains Tim Tang, associate vice-president, Students. “Fostering distributed leadership with respect to the events and activities has meant that Indigenous and non-Indigenous faculty and staff have been able to come together in partnership and, collectively, lift some of this important work alongside our colleagues in kihêw waciston.”
Tang also notes that students, staff and faculty who are unable to be on campus on September 30 can still access virtual learning opportunities.
For more information on MacEwan’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation events and virtual resources, visit MacEwan.ca/kihewwaciston.
Orange Shirt Day 2022
“The dreamcatcher is the main part of the design, and you can see the infinity loops representing Métis people all around it. There’s an inukshuk at the very top of the dreamcatcher and a small heart at the bottom, too – because we all need more compassion and kindness in our lives. In the middle are the words, ‘Every Child Matters.’
When I hear those words, I think of residential schools. Indigenous children didn’t really matter back then. But every child should matter. Every person should matter.
I hope that when people wear or see this shirt, they see inclusivity, togetherness and reconciliation. To me, reconciliation means that even if you make a mistake and you don’t include someone, you can try to fix that mistake. You can try to be together again.”
– Bianca Ilceus, a Grade 8 student at David Thomas King School
Bianca designed the logo on the university’s 2022 Orange Shirt Day t-shirts. Summer students at MacEwan’s kihêw waciston Indigenous Centre selected her design from hundreds submitted to its youth logo contest.