Kahnawake commemorates residential schools on Orange Shirt Day

Kakaionstha Betty Deer, 78, is one of the survivors of what were known as the Indian (Aboriginal) residential schools, which were in use in Canada from 1837 to 1996.

Between the ages of six and nine, Deer attended a school in Spanish, Ontario, about 800 km away from her home in Kahnawake.

During those three years, Deer said the staff of the school sexually abused her, leaving mental scars she said have only started to heal 25 years ago.

“You feel like the walking dead,” she said.

“You’re alive, but you’re dead inside.”

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For the fourth year, First Nations communities across Canada are commemorating Orange Shirt Day in remembrance of the survivors of the country’s residential school program.

READ MORE: Orange Shirt Day for residential school children marked in northern Saskatchewan

The system was a network of boarding schools for First Nations students that was funded by the Canadian government’s Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and administered by Christian churches.

Orange Shirt Day was inspired by the story of Phyllis Webstad, who is from British Columbia and attended a residential school in the 1970s.

Her family had bought a new orange shirt for her to start school, but administrators took it from her as she registered and never returned it.

Webstad graduated from college, but the experience spurred her to raise awareness about the often untold challenges residential schoolchildren had to face growing up.

“More often than not, there are stories of abuse. Stories of neglect,” said Merrick Diabo, who works with survivors of the schools in Kahnawake.

“They tried to make them assimilated through loss of language, loss of culture, loss of traditions.”

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Kahnawake held a ceremony where hundreds of children turned out wearing orange shirts with the words “every child matters” written on them.

READ MORE: Students lead Orange Shirt Day movement in Regina

The reserve held a tobacco-burning ceremony and performed an honour song for the survivors.

Diabo said these types of ceremonies highlight a positive aspect of First Nations life.

“It is uplifting in the sense that we’re very resilient,” he said.

“There was so much damage that this caused throughout Canadian history. Now, we’ve overcome.”