This September 30, 2022 marks Canada’s second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Since 2013, it has been known as Orange Shirt Day, and last year Canada passed legislation to establish the day as a statutory holiday.
This day provides an opportunity for PHC to recognize and commemorate the tragic history and ongoing legacy of residential schools, and to honour the survivors, their families and communities. It is more than a stat holiday—it is a solemn and reflective day where we honour the children who suffered in the residential school system, and the ones who never made it home. This statutory holiday was created in response to one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and that challenges us to understand what we can do—today – to redress the dark legacy of the residential school and ongoing colonialism.
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation provides an opportunity for us at PHC to reflect on our work as individuals and as an organization and ask ourselves, “Are we doing enough? What am I individually doing in my role to advance truth, reconciliation and culturally safe care for Indigenous patients?”
There are measures each of us can take to demonstrate our commitment truth and reconciliation. This can include:
- Educating ourselves on these issues;
- Taking time for reflection and to make personal commitments;
- Participating in community events and/or memorials;
- Contributing to change efforts (including Orange Shirt Day); and,
- Supporting or contributing to Indigenous businesses and communities and/or donating to Indigenous organizations.
Below are some reminders and information from our Indigenous Wellness and Reconciliation team and our PHC Human Resources department.
Orange T-shirts and pins—Send in your team photos!
The IWR team will not be distributing Orange t-shirts for the organization. Below are some recommended vendors to purchase your orange t-shirts or pins from:
- Native Northwest – Partial proceeds from each orange shirt will be directed to the Native Northwest Reconciliation fun to fund initiatives that support Indigenous Wellness, learning and culture. https://www.nativenorthwest.com/nnw/every-child-matters.html?mc_cid=a740a3b5ee&mc_eid=f2ba2a99f1
- Leading Edge Promo—Orange t-shirt lapel pins can be purchased through this vendor. https://leadingedgepromo.ca/product/orange-shirt-lapel-pin/
- Tribal Roots Imports—Beaded orange shirt pins can be purchased through this vendor. https://tribalrootsimports.com/product/orange-shirt-day-pin/
- Decolonial Clothing—Bailey Ingram, wholesale sales rep. www.decolonialclothing.com
Send photos of your teams of yourself individually in your orange shirts to connect@providencehealth.bc.ca and our communications team will add them to the photo library!
Orange ribbons to be distributed to departments across PHC
The IWR team has arranged for orange ribbon kits to be delivered to each Site and/or Unit Leader for teams to make their own orange ribbons to wear and show their support on September 30. We hope that this mindfulness activity will be an opportunity for teams to reflect on the significance of this day, and ways to implement Indigenous Cultural Safety in their work area and one’s own commitment to Truth and Reconciliation
A note on operations from HR
As was the case last year, where applicable, PHC unionized staff who are scheduled to work on Friday, September 30, 2022 will receive statutory holiday pay and a stat day off in lieu in accordance with the collective agreements.
Staff who work on rotation and are scheduled day-off on September 30th will be receiving another stat day. People Staffing will work directly with managers to schedule in lieu stat days in advance of December 31, 2022.
PHC corporate non-contract staff will have the day off.
Indigenous Wellness & Reconciliation ICS Resources 2022
Below is a list of recommended resources compiled by our Indigenous Wellness and Reconciliation Team.
Commission/Inquiry Reports
In Plain Sight (2020)
- In Plain Sight: Addressing Indigenous-specific Racism and Discrimination in B.C. Health Care: Full Report
- In Plain Sight: Summary Report
- In Plain Sight: Addressing Indigenous-specific Racism and Discrimination in B.C. Health Care: Data Report
Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019)
- Executive Summary, Final Report Volumes 1a and 1b, Supplementary Report – Genocide, and Calls for Justice
- Red Women Rising: Indigenous Women Survivors in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015)
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996)
Indigenous Human Rights
- United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)
- Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, BC
- United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, Canada
Indigenous Thought Leadership
Indigenous Health- and Wellness-Focused Organizations
- Metro Vancouver Indigenous Services Society
- Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre Society
- Lu’Ma Native Housing Society and Medical Centre
- Kílala Lelum Health Centre
- Aboriginal Mother Centre Society
- The DUDES Club
- Urban Native Youth Association
- Pacific Association of First Nations Women
Organizations to Donate & Support
- Indigenous Wellness & Reconciliation at Providence Health Care
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- Under “Choose a fund” select “Other”. A new field will be added below called “Other Designated Fund” where you can type in “Indigenous Wellness & Reconciliation”
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- Indian Residential School Survivors Society
- Legacy of Hope Foundation
- Orange Shirt Society
- National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation
- The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund
- The Witness Blanket
- Circles for Reconciliation
- First Nations Child & Family Caring Society
- Native Courtworkers
Videos, Documentaries & Films
- “A Mother’s Voice” (2019) – via STORYHIVE on YouTube
- “Angry Inuk” (2016) documentary film dir. by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril
- “Atanarjuat” (2002) drama film dir. by Zacharias Kunuk
- “Blood Quantum” (2019) horror film dir. Jeff Barnaby
- “The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open” (2019) film drama dir. By Elle-Maija Tailfeathers
- “Boy” (2012) comedy-drama film dir. by Taika Waititi
- “The Grizzlies” (2018) drama/sport film dir. by Miranda de Pencier
- “Guardians of Eternity” (2015) documentary film dir. by France Benoit
- “Indian Horse” (2017) film drama dir. by Stephen Campanelli
- “The Invisible Nation” (2007) documentary film dir. by Robert Monderie & Richard Desjardins
- “Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance” (1993) documentary film dir. by Alanis Obomsawin
- “Monkey Beach” (2020) mystery/drama film dir. by Loretta Todd
- “Nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up” (2019) documentary film dir. by Tasha Hubbard
- “The Pass System” (2015) documentary film dir. by Alex Williams
- “Reel Injun” (2009) documentary film dir. by Neil Diamond, Catherine Bainbridge & Jeremiah Hayes
- “There’s Something in the Water” (2019) film dir. by Elliot Page & Ian Daniel
- “Tunnit: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos” (2018) documentary film dir. by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril
- “We Were Children” (2012) film dir. by Tim Wolochatiuk
- “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World” (2017) documentary film dir. by Catherine Bainbridge, Alfonso Maiorana
Webinars/ Series
- Indigenous Cultural Safety Collaborative Learning Series webinars
- National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health Structures of Indifference webinar
- Mi’kmaq Elder Albert Marshall’s Etuaptmumk or ‘Two Eyed Seeing’ approach to knowledge sharing
- Former Senator Murray Sinclair’s response to “Why can’t you just get over it?”
- The First Nations Health Authority: Cultural Safety and Cultural Humility Webinar Action Series
- READ THE TRC REPORT – Compilation of Individuals reading the TRC Report (YouTube)
Books
- “Our Stories: First Peoples in Canada” by Centennial College (Free on Apple Books)
- “A Knock on the Door” by Phil Fontaine, Aimée Craft, The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
- “Apple: (Skin to the Core)” by Eric Gansworth
- “Five Little Indians” by Michelle Good
- “The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America” by Thomas King
- “21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act” by Bob Joseph
- “’Real’ Indians and Others: Mixed-blood Urban Native Peoples and Indigenous Nationhood” by Bonita Lawrence
- “Separate Beds: A History of Indian Hospitals in Canada, 1920s-1980s” by Maureen K. Lux
- “Structures of Indifference: An Indigenous Life and Death in a Canadian City” by Mary Jane Logan McCallum and Adele Perry
- “The Colonial Problem: An Indigenous Perspective on Crime and Injustice in Canada” by Lisa Monchalin
- “As I Remember It: Teachings (Ɂəms tɑɁɑw) from the Life of a Sliammon Elder Elsie Paul” with Davis McKenzie, Paige Raibmon & Harmony Johnson
- “Unsettling the Settler Within Indian Residential Schools, Truth Telling, and Reconciliation in Canada” by Paulette Regan; Foreword by Taiaiake Alfred
- “They Called Me Number One” by Xat’sull Chief Bev Sellars
- “Dear Canada: These Are My Words: The Residential School Diary of Violet Pesheens” by Ruby Slipperjack
- “Loss of Indigenous Eden and the Fall of Spirituality” by Blair Stonechild
- “Call Me Indian: From the Trauma of Residential School to Becoming the NHL’s First Treaty Indigenous Player” by Fred Sasakamoose
- “Suffer the little Children” by Tamara Starblanket
- “Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City” by Tanya Talaga
- “All Our Relations” by Tanya Talaga
- “Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Issues in Canada” by Chelsea Vowel
- “One Story, One Song” by Richard Wagamese
- “Elements of Indigenous Style: A guide for writing by and about Indigenous Peoples” by Gregory Youngling
- “Unreconciled: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance” by Jesse Wente
- “Johnny Appleseed” by Joshua Whitehead
- “A History of My Brief Body: A Memoir” by Billy-Ray Belcourt
- “NDN Coping Mechanisms: Notes from the Field” by Billy-Ray Belcourt
- “This Wound Is a World” by Billy-Ray Belcourt
- “The North-West Is Our Mother: The Story of Louis Riel’s People, the Métis Nation” by Jean Teillet
- “Split Tooth” by Tanya Tagaq
- “The Right to Be Cold” by Sheila Watt-Cloutier
- “Anti-Racist Health Care Practice” by Elizabeth McGibbon, Josephine Etowa
- “Medicine Unbundled: A Journey through the Minefields of Indigenous Health Care” by Gary Geddes
- “Settler: Identity and Colonialism in 21st Century Canada” by Adam J. Barker and Emma Battell Lowman
- “Making native space” by Cole Harris
- “A Fair Country: Telling Truths About Canada” by John Ralston Saul
Podcasts
- Finding Cleo – CBC Podcast
- Missing & Murdered: Who Killed Alberta Williams? – CBC Podcast
- Thunder Bay – CANADALAND Podcast
- Residential Schools – Historica Canada Podcast
- Unreserved – CBC Podcast
- Storykeepers
Musicians of Note
- Buffy Sainte-Marie (rock/folk/country)
- The Halluci Nation (Formerly ‘A Tribe Called Red’) (electronic/dance)
- Snotty Nosed Rez Kids (hip hop)
- Tanya Tagaq (Inuit Throat Singing/folk/rock)
- Susan Aglukark (folk/pop/country)
- Northern Cree (powwow/Round Dance drum)
- Leela Gilday (folk/pop)
- Jay Gilday (folk)
- Shane Yellowbird (country)
- Jeremy Dutcher (opera/classical/folk)
- iskwē (electronic/alternative/indie pop)
Articles
- Missing and Murdered Indigenous People via CBC
- Personal Acts of Reconciliation: 10 Actions CBC
- 11 books to teach kids about residential schools
- 10 books about residential schools to read with your kids
- 10 Great Indigenous Musicians to Listen to in 2022
- 23 Indigenous musicians who are finally getting some long overdue Grammy recognition
- Indigenous Storytellers
Other Resources
University of British Columbia: Indigenous Peoples Language Guidelines
University of Alberta “Indigenous Canada” Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
Canada’s Residential Schools – Canadian Geographic x Google Earth
Native-Land.ca – Find out whose traditional territory you live on
More on the sovereign Nations of xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh)