School Mental Health Ontario commemorates the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada identified 94 calls to action. Today, September 30, 2021, demonstrates a response to the 80th call with the first federally designated National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
This act of public commemoration is an important step towards the long process of reconciliation, and it begins with truth, with acknowledging the terrible injustices perpetrated against Indigenous people through our colonial past and present. This day we reflect deeply on the lost children and survivors of residential schools, their families, and communities. We wear orange shirts to call to mind how a six-year-old Phyllis Webstad felt when her new shirt was taken from her, along with attempts to rob her of her culture and identity during her time at residential school.
In her words:
“We chose September because that’s when kids went back to school — that’s when they were taken away,” Webstad says, adding that it felt divinely guided. “[That fall] when I went to the TRC event in Vancouver, [I was] sitting there listening to the truths being told, and an Elder sitting not far from me was talking, and she said that September was ‘crying month’ — and I knew then that we had chosen the right day.”
“We chose [the slogan] ‘every child matters’ because I talked about how I felt that I didn’t matter when I was in residential school. No matter how much I cried, nobody cared. Nobody. We weren’t hugged. We weren’t consoled. We could be half-dead and we weren’t tended to,” Webstad shares. “Every child that went to residential school, well, they all matter. Even the ones that didn’t come home, they matter. And it wasn’t until after we were using that slogan that I realized that it fits the past, the present and the future. It fits reconciliation — it’s one of those divine things that fits in this day of reconciliation.”
(Canadian Geographic, 2020)
As School Mental Health Ontario team members, we recognize the intergenerational trauma caused by these systems, and how there is much work yet to be done to ensure that schools are seen and experienced as supportive spaces for Indigenous young people.
On this National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, our SMH-ON team will be taking time together to reflect on past and present harms endured by First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples, particularly in the school context. We will focus on our shared responsibilities and commitments towards supporting Indigenous culture, identity, and strength in our work; and we will consider the learning and knowledge that has come forward through our long-standing partnership with our colleagues at the First Peoples Wellness Circle (FPWC), and most recently through our collaborative Indigenous School Mental Health project.
As individuals, schools, and organizations across Canada commemorate this day with learning and commitment to disrupting colonial systems and structures, collective action can result, and this is a positive step forward. We recognize, however, that this is an extremely difficult time for many, and our hearts and minds are centered on those who grieve the personal losses of children who never returned home from residential school, and the survivors and their families who have experienced enduring loss and hardship. We hope that our Indigenous friends and colleagues will take time for themselves and their families this week, while the rest of us take responsibility to engage in supportive reflection, conversation, learning and commitment to sustained action.
Reach out for help:
Former Residential School students can call 1-866-925-4419 for emotional crisis referral services and information on other health supports from the Government of Canada.
Indigenous peoples across Canada can also go to The Hope for Wellness Help Line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for counselling and crisis intervention. Call the toll-free Help Line at 1-855-242-3310 or connect to the online chat.
Kids Help Phone, an anonymous and confidential phone and online counselling service for children and youth | 1-800-668-6868
Crisis Services Canada | 1-833-456-4566 or text 45645