A wave of orange washed over Bradford on Monday, but that alone may not be enough to reconcile the past.
About 60 people donned orange shirts and gathered to recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation during a flag-raising ceremony hosted by the town and Odenaang Circle outside the BWG Leisure Centre on Monday.
Odenaang member Ashley Mosquera discussed the importance of the annual day of remembrance, sometimes also known as Orange Shirt Day, which is intended to educate and remind Canadians about the history of residential schools, and has been held annually in Canada on Sept. 30 since 2021.
With heritage from the Wendat First Nation, Mosquera emphasized just how recently the last of the residential schools closed in 1996.
“I was seven when children were still in these places where they couldn’t see their mother, they couldn’t see their father, they couldn’t see their loved ones,” she said.
It is estimated about 150,000 Inuit, Métis and First Nations children were forceably sent to residential schools to assimilate them into Canadian society and more than 6,000 Indigenous children died in that system between the first schools opening in the 1830s and the last school closing.
Mosquera recounted how one of those was her own grandmother and residential school survivor, Irene Doré, who was taken by a local priest when she was only five, separated from her brothers, and never again to see her father.
“She didn’t know them, she didn’t know our language, she didn’t know our culture,” Mosquera said, adding that Sept. 30 also marked the 13th anniversary of Doré’s death. “I feel her so deep in my soul.”
In an interview after the ceremony, Mosquera recounted some of the memories of residential school her grandmother had shared with her, including that if Doré was caught speaking with people from her community, the nuns would take her hands and “smash” them against a desk with a bible.
“You weren’t allowed to have anything of home, nothing of who you were,” she said.
Other memories were “too horrific” for her grandmother to share, but when Mosquera would spend the night, she could hear Doré scream out.
“Even though she was so far removed, it was still ingrained in her soul so much that it would give her nightmares for the rest of her life,” she said.
The cruelty continued even after Doré’s passing, when the family discovered the church had destroyed all of their records on her, according to Mosquera, who said that led to more than a year of delays in trying to properly register the death.
During the ceremony, Mosquera acknowledged that many people have heard such stories before and are learning the truth, but “reconciliation still needs to happen.”
“It’s not just about wearing orange — it’s about the action that you do everyday and being allies for us,” she said. “It means more to us than your words.”
After the ceremony Mosquera noted the importance of implementing all 94 calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 2015 report, of which just 13 have been completed so far, according to a report from Yellowhead Institute.
“What we need from everybody is to back up their words,” she said. “We’re done with the talking, we want the action.”
When asked which of the remaining 81 calls to action she would most like to see implemented, Mosquera explained they all need to come together to be effective and criticized the slow pace of implementation over the last nine years.
Meanwhile, she called it “a big honour” to be able to lead the local ceremony, which included the smudging of white sage, considered a sacred medicine.
“On this day we memorialize the children lost to the residential school system and honour survivors, their families, and their communities,” Mayor James Leduc said in proclaiming National Day for Truth and Reconciliation before Mosquera helped raise the Survivor’s Flag.
As part of the ceremony, Odenaang Cirlce installed story boards around the tree in the Sunshine Meeting Place, which detailed the history of residential schools in Canada, and the mayor read each aloud as he felt it was important for everyone to understand what has happened.
“I want to apologize on behalf of Bradford West Gwillimbury,” said Mayor James Leduc. “We want to celebrate our Indigenous cultures and heritages right here in Bradford.”
Earlier in the ceremony, Leduc also acknowledged the recent death of local Mi’kmaw elder, White Eagle, who led previous local ceremonies.
“White Eagle was and is a shooting star who touched many people’s lives and he will be forever missed,” the mayor said before asking everyone to place their hands over their hearts in a moment of silence.
