This Thursday for Miyo-wîcîwitowin Day, Mosaic Stadium was overrun with a sea of orange t-shirts instead of the usual sea of green and white.
Over 12,000 schoolchildren from southern Saskatchewan attended the historic event, the first of its kind.
“I feel as though we have lost our history, our voices, and our ability to perform our rituals because of residential schools.
Being able to genuinely come to terms with things is one important thing for me,” said Martin Collegiate student Kym Wapemoose, who attended the event.
“I lost my mother to PTSD and despair as a result of the abuse she endured in a residential school. She is still with us, but because teaching me causes her PTSD to flare up, she is unable to do as much as she used to.
Other children expressed their excitement about passing on what they had learned to their parents and grandparents, who most likely haven’t had the same educational opportunities.
Willow, a student at Sheldon Williams Collegiate, stated, “It’s necessary so that our generation can learn and we can pass it on to later generations.”
Some of the attendees are foreign students who welcomed the opportunity to learn more about Canada.
Ankita Sharma stated, “I just moved to Canada this year, and while I don’t know much, I’m learning.
For the young people present, performances by organisations like the Snotty Nose Rez Kids were very popular.
Between acts, First Nations leaders from around the province and the nation praised indigenous culture, both recent and ancient, and related personal accounts of the brutal colonial practises.
Chief Cadmus Delorme of the Cowessess First Nation hopes that young people will take reconciliation into the future by hearing these stories.
The students were eager to engage with him as he walked twice up and down the stands, according to him.
Hearing, “Chief, may I get a picture of you? Great job,” was a wonderful sensation, he recalled.
“And I tell you, the majority of those comments came from non-Indigenous pupils, and, you know, the Indigenous children present seem just as proud that they are not alone, too.”
The youngsters will depart with “something new in their hearts, new knowledge, and new understanding which will assist their generation actually move forward on the healing journey,” according to RoseAnne Archibald, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations.
”
Wapemoose noted that she hoped activities like these would give other Native youth greater courage to exhibit their own cultures.
She expressed hope that more of her fellow citizens, indigenous men and women, will begin dancing more, showing pride in their appearance, and using their native tongue more.
Numerous young people congregate in Regina to consider forgiveness and truth.
About Author
