Hundreds of Yellowknife students have joined a truth and reconciliation walk with the woman who inspired Orange Shirt Day.
Children from Weledeh Catholic School and École St Patrick High School walked with Phyllis Webstad, a residential school survivor who had her clothes, including a new orange shirt bought for her by her grandmother, taken from her on her first day at the institution.
Webstad, who is Northern Secwpemc (Shuswap) from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation in BC, shared this memory later in life. Doing so led to the formation of Orange Shirt Day, marking the impact of the residential school system and its lasting effects.
More recently, Orange Shirt Day has become a federal holiday – and a statutory holiday in the Northwest Territories, among other jurisdictions – known as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Webstad led Friday’s walk having originally planned to fly to Kugluktuk for a presentation. A rescheduled flight led to a change in plans and Webstad was invited to pay the schools a visit.
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“I could not land yesterday so the plane had to come back to Yellowknife. I met some people at the airport and they hooked me up with the school today,” Webstad told Cabin Radio. She hoped to be able to travel on to Kugluktuk later.
Webstad said she had an “amazing” experience walking around the city with the students.
“They’re learning about what happened to us. they care about what happened to us. That is going to change the future,” she said.
“I shared here today. ‘What do I want? Why am I doing this?’ But the end result is I want less trauma and death. The drugs are taking so much of our people. That needs to stop. Do whatever families and individuals need to do to heal. What I want is more education for our people and healing. Today it was a healing walk. That helps with that. That will bring about a better path of life and more happiness.
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“We’re on this Earth not very long. We need to be – I need to be – happy. Of course, all the other emotions. Just to be thankful and grateful for today. That’s what I want and what is motivating me to do this work.”
Below, see some images from the walk.
All photos by Aastha Sethi/Cabin Radio.
