ATHABASCA — Orange Shirt Day is now an official federal holiday as of June 9, six days after being proposed following the discovery of 215 unmarked graves at a Kamloops residential school.
It is up to each province to adopt the holiday, named the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, so it is a true public holiday, but for now a few school boards in Alberta like Lethbridge and Calgary and now Aspen View Public Schools (AVPS) have chosen to honour the day by making it a non-instructional day — meaning no school for students or staff.
“There was some discussion about it, whether it was too late to change our calendar and things like that, but it was discussed administratively (and) administration also touched base with the leadership of two of the First Nations that we have formed relationships with ... and they supported it,” said AVPS communication officer Ross Hunter Aug. 31.
The recommendation then went out to the executive committee of the board of trustees who voted to change the calendar at an asynchronous meeting, meaning it was done digitally and the trustees had a deadline to respond.
“Our board has demonstrated a commitment to truth and reconciliation and we very much value the relationships we've got with the First Nations that we work with and with all the Indigenous families (in) our division and the feeling was this was an appropriate thing to do,” Hunter said.
The timing of the federal announcement made things a bit complicated as calendars are typically set far earlier in the year, Hunter explained, but AVPS didn’t want to wait until the next regular meeting as by then it would be too late.
As for how it will look in the future – in two years it will fall on a Saturday – Hunter wasn’t sure and said it will be up to the board at the time to determine if there will be a day off in lieu.
For now, May 19 has been changed from a staff work day with no school for students to a regular school day to ensure the correct number of instructional minutes are maintained with the introduction of the Sept. 30 day off.
Indigenous Learning Garden
At a ceremony Sept. 1, the new Indigenous Learning Garden at Whispering Hills Primary School was blessed by a Cree Elder.
Peter Auger along with his wife Adel, daughter Joanne and grandson Muskwa – Little Bear, in Cree – AVPS Supt. Neil O’Shea, deputy Supt. Karen Penney, trustee Dennis MacNeil, AVPS First Nations, Métis, Indigenous liaison Alma Swan, WHPS principal Lorna Anderson, assistant principal Glenda Gray and the Grade 3 classes of Mrs. Lundell, Mrs. Mitchell and Mme. Buchanan came together as Auger smudged the area.
“I was gifted this language so, I’m going to use Cree,” Auger said, explaining to the students he was praying to the ancestors, starting west, then north, east and finally south.
“Now that I’ve called the four directions and now that they’re here, I’ll smudge,” Auger said.
Now that the land has been blessed it is sacred and will be a safe space for learning and healing, Auger said, which is exactly what WHPS principal Lorna Anderson is hoping will happen in the garden.
“Our hope is that it becomes somewhat of an outdoor learning space so that classroom teachers can take their students out there with clipboards,” Anderson said Sept. 3. “It can be a spot where we do a talking circle; it can be a spot where we dive into the Grade 3 curriculum lesson on rocks and minerals, because the rocks are absolutely beautiful.”
Phase 1, now that the ground has been blessed, started Sept. 3 with the placement of the hewn rocks in a sort of circle and the pylons were poured for the gazebo which will hopefully be installed before winter.
“We're just doing it in stages, so the rocks, the gazebo, we also want to have a teepee in that area,” she said. “And then plant some Indigenous plants as well and have plaques by the plants to say how they can be used, what they're used for within the Indigenous culture.”
The spot will also work well for the Grades 1 and 2 science classes and of course in social studies about truth and reconciliation and choosing plants will be guided by elders like Auger.
“We will work with him, as the knowledge keeper, to guide us and help us to plant,” said Anderson.
The cost of the garden was mostly covered with a $5,000 grant from Alberta Pacific Forest Industries (Al-Pac) with some money coming from the division as well. Donations to help fund the project are also welcome.
Anderson is hoping the area will be complete by spring once the plants are in place.
