{"id":118861,"date":"2022-09-29T09:58:30","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T13:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=118861"},"modified":"2022-09-29T10:38:41","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T14:38:41","slug":"sacred-fire-and-every-child-matters-bear-offer-an-opportunity-to-honour-understand-and-pray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/sacred-fire-and-every-child-matters-bear-offer-an-opportunity-to-honour-understand-and-pray\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacred fire and Every Child Matters bear offer an opportunity to honour, understand, and pray"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday is National Truth and Reconciliation Day, also known as Orange Shirt Day. Public schools, Mount Allison University, and all government offices will be closed to mark the day.<\/p>\n

At Fort Folly First Nation, knowledge keeper and Mi\u2019kmaq cultural coordinator Nicole Porter has put together an opportunity for area residents to learn about Truth and Reconciliation, and to honour the Indigenous children who suffered and even died in Canada\u2019s residential schools.<\/p>\n

Porter says she has long admired the hay bale bears put together by Matt Beal, of High Tide Homestead and Cattle Company. Porter says she thought to herself, \u201cwouldn\u2019t it be nice if we could have something like that, a big teddy bear, to honour the children that went to residential school, but they never made it home?\u201d<\/p>\n

Porter approached Beal, and the result is sitting near the Gitpu Gas Station at Cherry Burton Road and the 106: the Every Child Matters Bear.<\/p>\n

Hear Nicole Porter talking about the bear on CHMA\u2019s Tantramar Report:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

About three large bales tall, the bear is wearing an orange shirt with the words \u201cEvery Child Matters\u201d written on the front. Porter says the bear is an opportunity honour and cherish the children lost to the residential school system, and to raise awareness of a history that is still being learned and understood by Canadians.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s special to see this teddy bear with an orange shirt, to see people even wearing an orange shirt. That just shows that they understand this part of history, and they\u2019re starting to understand the truth,\u201d says Porter. \u201cI just want to raise that awareness, and make sure it\u2019s out there for people to visually see and stop and question: What happened? Why orange? And, you know, I believe this teddy bear is a perfect opportunity for this education to be spread among the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, Porter\u2019s son Zachary, who is a fire keeper, will light a sacred fire, and people are invited to come offer prayer.<\/p>\n

\u201cA fire for the Indigenous people is a way to offer our prayers of healing,\u201d says Porter. \u201cThen they are sent off to the Creator to be answered. And so we can let any hurt go by offering this tobacco to the fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Porter will also be on hand to speak with anyone interested in learning about Orange Shirt Day, and the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. Porter is used to sharing knowledge. She works with Tantramar area schools sharing Mi\u2019kmaq culture with students. She says \u201cit\u2019s amazing\u201d that the Higgs government has declared National Day of Truth and Reconciliation day a provincial holiday, so more people will have time to learn about it.<\/p>\n

Porter is inviting everyone to visit the Every Child Matters Bear and the sacred fire on Friday between 10am and 2pm. \u201cIt\u2019s just drop in,\u201d says Porter. \u201cVery casual. If you plan on staying longer, bring a chair, sit up around the fire. We\u2019ll just, you know, hang out, talk, chat and mingle.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those looking for orange shirts to wear on Friday, the Gitpu Gas Station beside the bear has a supply of Every Child Matters shirts available for sale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday is National Truth and Reconciliation Day, also known as Orange Shirt Day. Public schools, Mount Allison University, and all government offices will be closed to mark the day. At Fort Folly First Nation, knowledge keeper and Mi\u2019kmaq cultural coordinator Nicole Porter has put together an opportunity for area residents to learn about Truth and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":118865,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57,16830],"tags":[4583,19241,19239,18821,19240],"radio":[227],"origine":[274,275,277],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118861"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118861"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118884,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118861\/revisions\/118884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118861"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=118861"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=118861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}