{"id":88328,"date":"2023-09-29T16:55:37","date_gmt":"2023-09-29T20:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=88328"},"modified":"2023-09-29T16:55:37","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T20:55:37","slug":"gallery-events-across-campus-mark-national-day-for-truth-and-reconciliation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2023\/09\/gallery-events-across-campus-mark-national-day-for-truth-and-reconciliation\/","title":{"rendered":"GALLERY: Events across campus mark National Day for Truth and Reconciliation"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the flagpole to the fire pit, Brock\u2019s main campus was busy with events and orange shirts marking the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Along with a film screening on Thursday, Sept. 28 and a lacrosse game on Saturday, Sept. 30, the University\u2019s Hadiya\u2019dag\u00e9nhahs First Nations, M\u00e9tis and Inuit Student Centre team and its campus partners hosted a variety of events<\/a> Friday, Sept. 29 to honour and remember the more than 150,000 Indigenous children forced to attend residential schools in Canada.<\/p>\n

Also known as Orange Shirt Day, the day<\/a>\u00a0has its origins in 1973 when Phyllis (Jack) Webstad was stripped of a new orange shirt purchased by her grandmother on her first day at the St. Joseph Mission residential school in Williams Lake, B.C., leaving her feeling as though she didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

Beginning at the fire pit at 6:45 a.m., where Firekeeper Chris Shawanoo taught throughout the day, participants headed to the flagpole for the raising of the Survivors\u2019 Flag at 8 a.m. before taking part in workshops that included a sharing circle from advocate\/artist Vanessa Brousseau outside Pond Inlet and a book reading from author Dawn Cheryl Hill in Alphie\u2019s Trough.<\/p>\n

Further time to learn and reflect was offered in front of the Schmon tower, where the heart garden display<\/a> honoured victims of colonial violence, and in the library, where visitors were invited to wrap books<\/a> in fabric prints that show the name of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit people.<\/p>\n

The day also welcomed high school students from the District School Board of Niagara to join in the workshops and share in a traditional lunch before returning to the fire pit in the afternoon for a closing ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\t