{"id":184903,"date":"2023-10-08T16:09:43","date_gmt":"2023-10-08T20:09:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=184903"},"modified":"2023-10-10T14:32:22","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T18:32:22","slug":"raising-a-flag-to-remember-cortes-island-school-marks-orange-shirt-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/raising-a-flag-to-remember-cortes-island-school-marks-orange-shirt-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Raising a flag to remember — Cortes Island School marks Orange Shirt Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sun was shining on Cortes Island school Friday Sept 29, as the Parent Advisory Committee shared orange T-shirts with all 90 children. With a new principal, the team and students were busy all month preparing to observe the day of memorial by raising a Residential School Survivors\u2019 flag.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Klahoose Elders visited to share their lived experiences and share song, drumming, and hope. Sisters Rose Hanson and Jessie Louie, joined with singer Brenda Hanson.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Brenda Hanson, singing in \u0294ay\u0294a\u01f0u\u03b8\u0259m (Ayajuthem) with school children. Photo by Odette Auger.<\/p><\/div>\n

The day was explained in advance, in age appropriate ways from kindergarten to Cortes Island Academy. For high school students, a week of online <\/span>lunch and learns <\/span>with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation<\/a>\u00a0shared the full history, along with exploring unconscious bias and debunking stereotypes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Datura, the new principal, shared why this day was important to observe, and communicate.\u00a0 As a principal, he felt that the day needs to be observed <\/span>\u201cespecially given the role that the education system has played in colonization,\u201d Datura said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it's important for students to see the Canadian flag come down and be replaced if only for a moment, if just to acknowledge the role of the nation state in colonization and the continued oppression of indigenous peoples.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Canadian flag taken down to recognize the role the government played. Photo by Odette Auger.<\/p><\/div>\n

Erica Kohn, president of the school\u2019s Parents Advisory Committee, explained that Datura had made connections months before he started as new principal. How to do TRC day in a good way was at the top of his list.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Survivors\u2019 flag was featured prominently during the day's events. The Elders led the drumming, with school children joining as the orange flag rose. The flag was conceived during the summer of 2021, when discoveries of unmarked graves on the grounds of former residential schools sparked mourning explains the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.\u00a0 It was designed by a group of survivors, and the meaning of the symbolism was explained to students before the flag was raised. Along with adults and children, seeds are visible on the lower part of the flag. \u201cThe seeds below the ground represent the children who did not come home. They were always there, but are now seen and searched for,\u201d explains the NCTR website.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The IRS Survivors\u2019 flag, created by Survivors as their expression of remembrance to share with the broader public. Image courtesy of National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.<\/p><\/div>\n

Elder Jessie Louie shared the emotions running through her, and the impact of families feeling like strangers. \u201cI never thought I'd see this day that I'd be speaking to all these children,\u201d says Jessie.\u00a0 \u201cWearing the Every Child Matters [t-shirts] to tell a bit of my story, it's part of healing. Every time you speak of it, you kind of let a little bit of yourself go, the hurt that you feel, and that's what I felt today. I kind of feel a bit of relief because the healing journey of the residential school is a long journey.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Jessie Louie shares her experiences and hopes at Cortes Island School. Photo by Odette Auger.<\/p><\/div>\n

Listen to the CKTZ News Update below:<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The sun was shining on Cortes Island school Friday Sept 29, as the Parent Advisory Committee shared orange T-shirts with all 90 children. With a new principal, the team and students were busy all month preparing to observe the day of memorial by raising a Residential School Survivors\u2019 flag.\u00a0 Klahoose Elders visited to share their…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":184941,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57,221,16830],"tags":[31110,376,31111,18409,8173,29689],"radio":[252],"origine":[280,266,231],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184903"}],"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\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184903"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":190835,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184903\/revisions\/190835"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184903"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=184903"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=184903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}