St. Albert is awash in orange shirts this week as the city gears up for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation this Saturday.
Teachers and students throughout St. Albert donned orange shirts this week in recognition of Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth of Reconciliation, both of which fall on Sept. 30. The days honour the survivors of Canada’s residential school system and the children who never returned home from them.
St. Albert students spent the week learning about Indigenous history and the residential school system in various ways. St. Albert Public staff and students permanently raised the Treaty 6 and Métis flags at district office on Sept. 27. Outreach High School students held a smudge, made bannock, and tie-dyed shirts orange so they could write messages about truth and reconciliation on them on Sept. 28.
St. Albert residents are invited to come to Mission Park (the green space behind École Father Jan) this Saturday for the city’s official National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event, said City of St. Albert government and Indigenous relations manager Trevor Duley. After an opening prayer and drum song, guests will get to join an honour walk to the Healing Garden by the Sturgeon River, where dignitaries will speak on Indigenous history. Guests can then head back to Mission Park for free entertainment (including a performance by the Métis Child and Family Services Jiggers) and a round dance to close off the event.
St. Albert–Sturgeon County Métis Nation Local #1904 member Kerri Randolph will speak during the event about the group’s ongoing efforts to search the former St. Albert (Youville) residential school grounds for unmarked graves. (Hundreds of unmarked graves have been found at residential school sites across Canada.)
“It’s a very complex site because it’s in the middle of the city,” Randolph said, and it covers hundreds of acres.
“Some of it is in people’s backyards.”
Randolph said researchers first have to narrow their search area and identify what technologies to use, as the ground-penetrating radar used in similar studies can’t scan under buildings. The search will likely take years to complete and will involve some 22 First Nations communities that had students at the Youville school.
“We just want to be able to find the answers for our families,” she said.
Many Canadians don’t realize how recent the residential schools were, Randolph said (the last one closed in 1996).
“I’m 37 years old, and I’m a descendent of a (residential school) survivor, and I see how it affected my family.”
Randolph encouraged guests to come out to Saturday’s event with an open mind.
“There can be no reconciliation without the truth.”
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. this Saturday. Visit stalbert.ca/supports/truth-reconciliation for details.
