National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at Lakehead

Last year, in response to the numerous unmarked, mass-graves of Indigenous children being discovered in Canada, Lakehead announced that the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation could either result in class cancellation or Indigenous-centered learning, determined by individual professors. This year, all classes on September 30th, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Day, will be cancelled. As part of incorporating Truth and Reconciliation into student life, Lakehead unveiled an Every Child Matters crosswalk on Wednesday, Sept. 7th, to commemorate the massive loss of Indigenous children’s life within Residential Schools. 

The Every Child Matters crosswalks were unveiled at the Thunder Bay and Orillia Campuses on September 7th, 2022. images courtesy of lakeheadu.ca and orilliamatters.ca, respectively.

The statutory holiday has also been known as Orange Shirt Day in honour of Phyllis Jack Webstad, a residential school victim whose new orange shirt was taken from her on her first day and never returned. Canadians, in turn, wear orange shirts on the National day for Truth and Reconciliation to remind one another of the way Indigenous children were stripped of their belongings and identity. Lakehead’s Office of Indigenous Initiatives will be selling orange shirts designed by a local Anishinaabe artist, which can be ordered here. All profits from these shirts will be given back to Indigenous-identifying students through the Lakehead University Indigenous Student Emergency Fund.

The Every Child Matters clothing is designed by Christian Chapman, an artist of Anishinabe heritage from Fort William First Nation, Ontario. Image courtesy of lakeheadu.ca/indigenous/orange-shirt.

Aside from wearing an orange shirt to commemorate the day, students are asked to use this day away from class to reflect and educate themselves on the realities of residential schools, and their residual effects on Canadian society. Since 2016, Lakehead has assured that all undergraduate degree programs have a degree requirement of at least one 0.5 FCE credit in Indigenous knowledge or Aboriginal content, as part of the Indigenous Content Requirement. Beyond the fact that students are all required to get 18 hours of Indigenous learning for our undergraduate degrees at Lakehead, it is also crucial to recognize that our education is being given on Indigenous land. Ultimately, we should take this time to educate ourselves on the suffering of Indigenous people in Canada’s dark history, as well as become informed about the ongoing effects of this trauma.