Yorkton Tribal Council estimates its Orange Shirt Day to be largest so far

Yorkton marked Truth and Reconciliation Day on Tuesday, with hundreds taking part in the event. Fruzsina De Cloedt has more.

Residents in Yorkton gathered on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to remember the children, families, and communities affected by the residential school system.

“When we first started our orange shirt walk, there was probably only about 30 people in our walk. Now we’ve grown to about 800 people,” Yorkton Tribal Council (YTC) Tribal Chief Isabel O’Soup said at City Centre Park.

She added that it’s important to have the event in such a central location.

“For some people who can’t make it, we still want them to experience [the national day] and we still want them to see it. We still want them to question: what’s going on over there? Why is everybody wearing [an] orange shirt?”

The walk started at YTC’s building on King Street. Next to the two teepees, orange t-shirts were distributed to the participants before the event opened with a prayer.

Among the crowd were survivors and their families, along with members of the community and representatives from the City of Yorkton.

Dawn Sinclair, the YTC’s director of community enhancement, gave a speech in front of the teepees. Both her parents were sent away to residential schools and later made an effort to keep her home. Sinclair said that it’s important to talk, teach, and acknowledge what happened.

“We don’t want people to forget that these types of schools existed, and we never want to see them happen again to any population, not just to Indigenous [people],” Sinclair told CTV News. “Everybody should be able to grow up in their own homes with love and support and [bodily] autonomy.”

The Tribal Chief said it’s important to be visible and she hopes that people will continue to wear an orange shirt on other days as well.

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“It doesn’t just have to be on September 30,” she said.

YTC Tribal Chief O’Soup explained that the YTC’s Indigenous cultural liaison has helped with teachings about the treaty, ribbon skirts, and with language classes, which serves the purpose of healing and reintroducing the community to its culture.

“We all went through that era or phase where we were not proud to be First Nation people, like including me when I went to school,” she explained.

“[When I was a child] I’d rather go hungry and take Bannock to school because we might have not had no bread, you know? So, we all went through that. Now we’re embracing it. So even that is success and accomplishment for us.”

The YTC offers programs and materials to anyone, but Sinclair said that human stories should also be explored.

“There’s tons of people that still have experiences that they can share with other people. They’re still here, they’re still walking around.”