When Haley Paetkau, whose father is a survivor of a residential school, realized her school wasn’t doing anything to recognize Orange Shirt Day, she decided to step up.
Started in 2013, Orange Shirt Day is recognized annually on Sept. 30 to honour and remember the Indigenous children who were taken from their families and sent to residential schools, and create an opportunity for discussion on the lasting impacts of the schools.
Last year, Haley enlisted the help of family and friends to make more than 200 bracelets by hand. She sold the orange bracelets on Sept. 30 at St. Michaels University School, where she was in Grade 4 at the time.
Haley sold the bracelets for $2 each, and raised more than $1,400 to buy books for a school on Penelakut Island, formerly known as Kuper Island, where her father, Steve Sxwithul'txw, attended a residential school as a five-year-old.
This year, 10-year-old Haley is raising money to help send students from Stz’uminus Community School in Ladysmith on a cultural exchange to Grand Prairie to learn about First Nations tribes.
Haley has heard stories from her father about his time at the Kuper Island school, and wanted to spread awareness about the impact of residential schools to other children in her school.
“If I just told a few friends about Orange Shirt Day, that shows that I care. But if I actually do something about it, that
shows that I really care about it,” she said.
Sxwithul'txw went to the Kuper Island residential school in 1970.
“It was a really tough time for me, and the effects of that I'm still discovering,” he said. “But you know, it’s the scars that I carry that helped me bring forward a better life for [my kids], so they don’t have to endure something so harsh.”
Orange Shirt Day was born out of reunion events in May 2013 for survivors of St. Joseph Mission Residential School in Williams Lake. The events commemorated the residential school experience, and honoured the healing journey for survivors and their families.
The day’s name has its origins in a story from survivor Phyllis Webstad, who went to the Williams Lake residential school.
On her first day at the school, she wore a new, orange shirt, bought for her by her grandmother. School staff stripped her of the shirt and took away her clothes. Webstad didn’t see the orange shirt again. Sept. 30 was chosen as the date, because it’s the time of year when children were removed from their homes.
Victoria is recognizing the day for the third consecutive year, with events in Centennial Square from noon to 3 p.m.
Guest speakers include Sxwithul’txw, Michele Mundy, educator and facilitator of Indigenous Cultural Safety training; and Melanie Mark, provincial minister of advanced education, skills and training. The speakers will share their experiences of attending residential schools.
Haley has been invited to raise the flag with her father at the event, and will be selling her orange bracelets for $5.
Everyone is invited to wear orange at the free event.
