Smoky Lake honors Indigenous children and families on National Day of Truth and Reconciliation

Smoky Lake honours Indigenous children and families on National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.

By Irene van der Kloet

It is the second year that the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation is celebrated across Canada. For Smoky Lake, it meant a day in which people could come together at Nekinan House to hear the stories of the gruelling events at residential schools, the struggles of Indigenous people to get a sense of belonging in Canadian society and the celebration of Indigenous traditions. Nekinan House is operated by the Métis Nation of Alberta and has recently undergone substantial renovations, resulting in a gorgeous facility full of cultural artifacts. Reconciliation is about Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples coming to terms with events of the past in a manner that rebuilds trust and respectful relationships and focuses on bettering future generations in Canada. To celebrate that, a workshop was held in the morning to make a Medicine Wheel.

The facilitator explained the Medicine Wheel and what it means to Indigenous people. In the afternoon, a crowd of about 70 people, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, came together to listen to the keynote speaker, Donna Webster, executive director of the Native Friendship Centre in Lac La Biche. Donna talked about her family and about how the lives of Indigenous people can be changed for the better. “Colonization and residential schools was a time of assimilation of Indigenous people, taking away their culture and language.” The words may sound simple, but their meaning goes so deep that many people would have difficulty grasping what that would mean. For Indigenous people, it meant that they were not allowed to practice their cultural traditions or speak their language. In residential schools, their hair was cut, and their traditional clothes were taken away. The children’s lives changed entirely without the support of their families. Donna emphasizes that it is essential that Indigenous people can reintroduce their culture, learn from their elders, and appreciates that people wear orange shirts to show their support. The orange shirt has a history: Phyllis (Jack) Webstad from Dog Creek, B.C., had just turned six years old when her granny – who was quite poor – bought her a bright orange shirt to wear on the first day of residential school. She was very excited about it, and great was her disappointment when she was stripped of her clothes, including the orange shirt, on the first day of school. She saw it back on other kids but never got it back. Since then, the colour orange always reminded her of the loss of that shirt and how her feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and how she felt worthless.

Many attendants wore an orange shirt on this day, showing their respect and compassion. Trevor Bowen shared his harrowing experience as a non-indigenous child in a residential school where his mother taught. He remembers the children that were punished and abused and can still hear them screaming from pain. The remaining part of the afternoon was filled with Metis dancing with an excellent explanation of the meaning of the dances and how they came about when European settlers first came to Canada. The day was concluded with a tour of Nekinan House.