All set for Orange Shirt Day in Kahnawake

By Eve Cable, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Door

September 30, 2023

For three years, Helen Jarvis Montour has organized for a large orange cake to be delivered ahead of Kahnawake’s Orange Shirt Day march, which will be taking place this Saturday, September 30.

“We geared the day towards being a birthday celebration, because things like that, they just didn’t get in residential school, they didn’t have birthday parties,” Montour explained. 

The cake features a large orange heart and is intentionally left plain, with no numbers on it.

“When they were in residential school, that’s all they were, numbers,” Montour said, adding that she tries to include items alongside the cake that community members would not have had access to when in residential school. “They didn’t get gifts, they didn’t get parties, or cake, they didn’t have access to good food. We also have harvest baskets for survivors, with jams, harvest food, and bread and stuff.”

The day will begin with a tobacco burning in the green space between Orville Standup Memorial Park and the Golden Age Club at 9 a.m. After the tobacco burning, an honour song will be sung by Don Barnaby.

“I’m Mi’kmaq, and we have special honour songs, and I want to honour survivors,” Barnaby said. He still remembers the first time he was involved with Orange Shirt Day. 

“It was probably eight years ago, and being a child of a survivor, I wanted to go see it, so I brought my hand drum. After the media were gone, and the kids were gone, I asked the elders if I could sing them a song.”

Barnaby sang the honour song to the group of elders, and recalls learning that one of the members of the group went to the same residential school as his mother – Shubenacadie Indian Residential School in Nova Scotia. He explained that the moment was particularly poignant and that every year when he sings the honour song, he’s thinking of his mother.

“I always think of her. And it’s really hard. (Shubenacadie) really screwed her up, real bad. She’s been in and out of mental hospitals all her life, and she’s still very deeply affected by it,” he said. 

“She’s so angry and resentful. She’s still hurt. So when I’m singing the honour song, I’m thinking about her. I’m thinking about the people she went to residential school with, and those who made it home. And I think about those who didn’t.”

The effects of residential school run deep, Barnaby said. He himself is a Sixties Scoop survivor, and he explained that the intergenerational trauma of residential school is felt in every generation.

“When I was four years old, I was adopted out … and even now, foster care is just modern day residential school. They keep taking our kids,” he said. Barnaby explained that he was adopted into a family that was loving and caring and educated him on his Indigenous identity, but that the pain of being taken from his family still affects him. 

“I went looking for (my birth family) after I was 18, and I found them. And I ended up getting my old name back, because that was so important to me, because my language and culture were taken from me.”

Orange Shirt Day, which is also known as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, is therefore a difficult day for Barnaby, as he remembers and acknowledges his family’s and his community’s trauma. He said that he relies on the advice of his father to carry him through it. 

“He taught me a long time ago, whenever you’re feeling at your lowest point, put your faith to work. Trust that the Creator will guide you through it. I have to believe in the power of prayer. I’ll be saying a lot of prayers before and after,” he said. “It’s always a tough week.”

On Saturday, after the tobacco burning and honour song, survivors from the community will be presented with the gifts organized by Montour. One of the most popular gifts is a small teddy bear wearing an orange shirt.

“The biggest hit with all the survivors last time was the teddy bear. I got a lot of positive feedback on that; they said that was the best thing they ever saw, that teddy bear. And also the blanket, because it says ‘home’ on there,” she said. 

“One of the survivors, he put the bear on his bannister, and he told his kids, ‘You see that? That’s mine. That’s my teddy bear.’ My father was five years old when he went to residential school and he was there until he was 12. He didn’t get toys, nothing. That’s why we wanted those teddy bears.”

Some community members will also be participating in the annual Orange Shirt Day run, organized by Mia Phillips, who is the organizer of the regular running group in town. The group will take off after the gifts are given from the same area. They follow the same route as the Mohawk Miles run, and anyone is welcome to join. Participants are invited to make a small donation to Iakwahwatsiratátie Language Nest in honour of the day.

“When we’re running, our minds will be thinking about the survivors. It’s sombre, but again, what Helen does is a celebration for the survivors that are there, and she’s providing them with a special gift, showing them that people care about what happened to them,” Phillips said. 

“We remember. We won’t forget what happened. We’re showing our love and support for those that didn’t make it home, and for the people that are still here with us. It’s an emotional day for sure.”

Montour has been delighted to see more and more people participate in Orange Shirt Day in Kahnawake since she first started honouring the day in 2015. 

“I’m so proud,” she said. “We’re trying to make it positive. We want to help survivors through it. They’re never going to forget it of course, but we don’t want people to have to be angry all the time.”

Individuals planning to participate in the day should meet by the green space between Orville Standup Memorial Park and the Golden Age Club at 9 a.m. Those wishing to participate in the run can join Phillips’ group directly after the ceremonies are complete. 

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