The importance of Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00[Music]
2. 0:16Orange shirt day to me is reflective of
3. 0:20a time when we need to be thinking about
4. 0:23the residential schools and the impacts
5. 0:26of those schools, especially looking at
6. 0:28the intergenerational impact. acts on
7. 0:30our communities and on our people.
8. 0:35[Music]
9. 0:40September 30th is a time for collective
10. 0:44remembrance
11. 0:45of the tragedies and attempted cultural
12. 0:49genocide against indigenous peoples, but
13. 0:52also the resiliency, the beauty and
14. 0:56strength of indigenous peoples and
15. 0:58communities. Truth has to come first,
16. 1:00and some of those truths are very
17. 1:03painful. It's a time for Canadians to be
18. 1:06humble and listen.
19. 1:08[Music]
20. 1:13Having understanding of these stories
21. 1:15and acknowledgement of these stories
22. 1:17also builds compassion and empathy. When
23. 1:19you have compassion, empathy, you can
24. 1:21provide better care to individuals.
25. 1:30I want interior health to be allies and
26. 1:34to continue to acknowledge this day and
27. 1:37not take this day as a like another stat
28. 1:40day to think in reconciliation to think
29. 1:42about what can they do today to learn
30. 1:44about residential schools. I think it's
31. 1:47a day of learning. IH staff can continue
32. 1:51to be good allies and show up and take
33. 1:56on some of their responsibility
34. 1:58in educating others and educating
35. 2:01themselves.
36. 2:06Last year, communications and indigenous
37. 2:08partnerships and indigenous employee
38. 2:10experience, we had a organizationwide
39. 2:14orange shirt challenge. And when I
40. 2:17showed my mother, who's a residential
41. 2:19school survivor, all of the photos that
42. 2:22were submitted to me to publish an
43. 2:24article internally, my mom cried. She
44. 2:27cried because she didn't think in her
45. 2:30lifetime that she would see that form of
46. 2:33recognition or acknowledgement of her as
47. 2:36a residential school survivor.
48. 2:38[Music]
49. 2:42I want it to be more of an education and
50. 2:46to participate in the day and to attend
51. 2:48community events that are happening
52. 2:50within the day. So, you know, take your
53. 2:53children, go enjoy the day, learn about
54. 2:55residential schools, wear your orange
55. 2:58shirts, and honor us. Honor the
56. 3:00residential school survivors.
57. 3:01>> We need to listen to learn about
58. 3:04colonization and its impacts.
59. 3:07We need to create environments that are
60. 3:09free of racism, where indigenous people
61. 3:12feel safe and welcome and valued.
62. 3:17That's why I'm wearing an orange shirt
63. 3:19on September 30th.
64. 3:22[Music]
65. 3:28[Music]