Schools plan for Orange Shirt Day

A. W. Neill Elementary to be renamed on Sept. 29 to overcome associations with the residential school system

By Karly Blats Ha-Shilth-Sa Contributor

Port Alberni, BC - This year Orange Shirt Day coincides with the fi rst National Day for Truth and Reconciliation—a new federal statutory holiday that recognizes the colonial legacy of residential schools while honouring Indigenous survivors. Although schools will be closed on September 30, events are still planned for students to recognize Orange Shirt Day and learn about the legacy of residential schools. Dave Maher, School District 70 (SD70) Indigenous education worker and principal, said SD70 has been working with the Haaḥuupc̓amis Cultural Council, Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (NTC) and individual communities to plan how to honour and learn about the upcoming Day of Truth and Reconciliation. He said the SD70 Indigenous Education Department has created a series of lessons to be introduced in classrooms prior to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, as well as throughout the year. “We believe that Orange Shirt Day, or the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, is a day to honour and a day to acknowledge both the truth aspects of the day, particularly with acknowledgement of residential schools, but also the reconciliation piece,” Maher said. “The day is meant for honouring and acknowledging but the entire year we need to engage in acts of understanding, acts of learning about truth and reconciliation.” In consultation with the Haaḥ uupcamis Cultural Council, Hupacasath First Nation, Tseshaht First Nation and NTC, SD70 will be honouring the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation with a ceremonial renaming of AW Neill Elementary to cuumaʕas Tsuma-as Elementary School. Tsuma-as (pronounced SOO-mahs) is the Nuuchah-nulth name for the Somass River. School District 70 board members voted unanimously to rename the school in 2020 because of claims that Alan Webster Neill, who was an Alberni mayor, a member of the B.C. Legislature and an MP for Comox-Alberni from 1921-1945, was involved in the operation of the Alberni Indian Residential School. Neill had also been vocally racist toward people of Asian heritage and made multiple eff orts in the House of Commons to deny voting rights to Asian immigrants. Before changing the name, the school board thoroughly consulted with the school’s PAC and students and elected offi cials from the Tseshaht and Hupacasath First Nations. The new name hasn’t offi cially been placed on the outside of the building yet and the renaming event on Sept. 29 will be ceremonial. “We will be hosting a renaming ceremony at cuumaʕas Tsuma-as Elementary School starting at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 29,” Maher said. “This event will be live streamed out to all SD70 schools and will be available for all community members who prefer to watch from their homes rather than be physically present.” Maher said SD70 wanted to ensure the ceremony was done in the correct way, so they’ve requested the presence of the hereditary chiefs and elected leadership from the Tseshaht and Hupacasath First Nations. He added that Jean Thomas, Nuu-chah-nulth education worker and Tseshaht elder will be hosting the event and guiding guests through the cultural protocols for the ceremony. Maher said he’s happy there’s now a stat holiday to recognize truth and reconciliation, topics SD70 Indigenous education workers have been teaching to all grade levels over the past several years. He said that leading up to September 30, diff erent concepts around truth and reconciliation will be taught to all SD70 students. “Our K to Grade 3 students will talk about family, the importance of family and then explore a concept of loss or loss of family and how that feels,” Maher said. “For our intermediate students, we’ll start getting into a more historical understanding of what residential schools were, what the Indian Act is and many challenges that are faced in provinces across Canada and the cities we live in.” For the senior grades, Maher said it becomes far more of a truth telling event to ensure there’s awareness of the absolute tragedies that occurred locally and throughout the country. Maher said SD70 with the NTC have purchased a large number of orange shirts so that students and staff will be able to access them. He encourages everyone to wear orange on September 29 when school is in session and to the name unveiling event on September 30. “We encourage everyone to have on orange shirts as a demonstration of acknowledgement of truth and reconciliation and as acknowledgment of Orange Shirt Day to bring awareness for healing for all,” he said. On the west coast, students from Ucluelet Secondary School will be able to view the museum exhibit ‘Escaping Residential Schools’ from the Legacy of Hope Foundation. The exhibit will be available at the school from Sept. 24 to Oct.1. Jason Sam, Nuu-chah-nulth education worker, said he’s working with three classes at Ucluelet Secondary School to develop student-lead content to supplement the exhibit. “Specifi cally, our Art 9/10 class is learning about Orange Shirt Day, learning how to design and screen print our own orange shirts in school. These will be displayed alongside a write-up of the students’ meaning behind the design,” Sam said in an email. “Our Literary Studies 11 class will be learning about truth and reconciliation and the 94 Calls to Action. They will then research specifi c calls to action, and do a project for the exhibit. Our BC First Peoples 12 class will be researching specifi c Indian Residential Schools in B.C. and will be completing projects for the exhibit.” Sam said all students in the school will attend the exhibit and that it’s open to Grade 6 and 7 students from both Ucluelet Elementary and Wickaninnish Community School. It will also be open to the public for limited viewing from Sept. 29 to Oct.1. For School District 84, events leading up to September 30 are also planned. Lawrence Tarasoff , SD84 superintendent, said all students from Gold River Secondary will be visiting Yuquot for activities on Sept. 29 and that both Ray Watkins Elementary and Captain Meares Elementary Secondary plan to join other schools across Canada for a series of activities organized by The Virtual Orange Shirt Day Assembly. Tim Huttemann, principal of Zeballos Elementary Secondary School, said they are also attending the virtual assembly on Sept. 29. “We’ll be pairing the high school kids with the elementary kids to make ‘All Kids Matter’ orange shirts in the Nuuchah-nulth language and we’ll have some additional in-school events planned by the teachers,” Huttemann said. Huttemann added that in addition to the shirt making and assembly, the school will also be participating in activities all week prior to Orange Shirt Day including fl ying an orange fl ag on the fl agpole all week, in-class discussions and a virtual presentation from an Indigenous NBA basketball player.

Photos by Eric Plummer Haahuupayak students perform in front of Maht Mahs for Orange Shirt Day in 2018. Sept. 30, now federally called National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, has become a civic holiday across Canada, but school districts have plans to recognize the legacy of the residential school system leading up to the day.

“The day is meant for honouring and acknowledging but the entire year we need to engage in acts of understanding, acts of learning about truth and reconciliation.” - Dave Maher, SD 70 Indigenous education worker and principal

Advocates criticize a provincial report, pointing to the many gaps in services, worsening struggles for people

By Melissa Renwick Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The provincial government launched a 10-year plan, A Pathway to Hope, to build a “comprehensive system” of mental health and addictions care for British Columbians in June 2019. Over two years in, a new progress report from the province “confi rms” people in B.C. are already receiving better access to mental health support. “We are working hard to ensure people in B.C. get access to seamless, integrated mental health and substance use care that can be found quickly and close to home,” says Sheila Malcolmson, minister of Mental Health and Addictions, in a release. “Step-by-step, we are transforming mental health and substance use care in B.C.” A Pathway to Hope started out by focusing on a three-year plan to address four priority needs: supporting Indigenous-led solutions; improving wellness for children, youth, and young adults; saving lives through better substance use care; and improving access to quality care overall. To support Indigenous-led solutions, the province, the First Nations Health Council, and Indigenous Services Canada allocated $20.5 million to 41 new First Nations-led mental health and wellness initiatives in 166 communities across British Columbia. Meanwhile, the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) funded 147 healing initiatives that focus a person’s connection to the land. The aim is to increase the types of treatment options available to First Nations by providing land-based, family-based, and group-based services. “A traditional healer’s network has been providing support to communities by revitalizing traditional teachings and practices,” says FNHA. “The creation of family-based gatherings has led to the development of a framework and creation of a pilot land-based healing program to respond to intergenerational trauma and wellness needs in communities. Cultural mentorship programs, men’s land-based healing programming and youth-based programs have also been successfully implemented.”

‘Many gaps continue’

Despite these moves, Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council Vice-President Mariah Charleson calls the progress report “shocking.” “It seems like a very common thing for the government to release these documents stating all the work that they’ve done,” she says. “But the reality is, many, many gaps continue to exist societywide.” For Charleson, it’s too soon to say that progress has been made. “We’re seeing people from our communities die as a result of drug overdose,” she says. “We’re seeing our family members living homeless – living that lifestyle with mental health issues. We see it fi rsthand. So, to me, not enough has been done yet.” The BC Coroners Service says that between January and June 2021, there were 1,011 suspected drug toxicity deaths. It’s the highest ever recorded in the fi rst six months of a calendar year and represents a 34 per cent increase over the number of deaths recorded between January and June 2020. Drug toxicity is now the leading cause of death in the province for people aged

Photo by Eric Plummer The need for immediate mental health support has increased dramatically since the discovery of 215 unmarked graves at the former site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Pictured are Nuu-chah-nulth-aht dancing outside Maht Mahs after a statement from Ditidaht Ha’wiih regarding the news from Kamloops.

19 to 39, and continues to take a “disproportionate number of Indigenous people’s lives,” says FNHA. First Nations people accounted for nearly 15 per cent of the toxic drug deaths in 2020, despite only representing 3.3 per cent of B.C.’s population. “That should be setting alarm bells off for leaders and policy makers,” says Charleson. “We’ve seen the government throw billions of dollars at COVID-19. We need to see that same type of approach when it comes to the opioid crisis and the mental health crisis that we’re witnessing.” The province’s progress report says it has escalated its response to the poisoned drug crisis through A Pathway to Hope. “In the past two years, B.C. has expanded access to take-home naloxone kits to 350 new sites, more than doubled the number of overdose prevention and supervised consumption sites - with 1.37 million visits and 7,082 overdoses survived at these sites with no deaths - and introduced Canada’s fi rst policy on prescribed safer supply,” says the Ministry of Health. The FNHA says that the province has been successful in supporting Indigenous-led solutions, but the need for better access to mental health and substance use services is “growing.” “Mental health stressors have also been amplifi ed throughout the COVID-19 epidemic and the increase in substance use to cope has been exponential,” says FNHA. “Additionally, the reveal of the 215 grave sites in Kamloops has led to an outpouring of re-traumatization across Indigenous communities as the intergenerational eff ects of residential schools continues to aff ect Indigenous people in B.C.” The FNHA says that access to capital funding that supports First Nations design and creates local wellness and healing centres with a focus on culture and teachings would be “a tremendous asset.” “Culture and ceremony need to be at the forethought of all healing work planning and implementation, as communities have repeatedly identifi ed the connection to traditional wellness to be the most important aspect of their healing journey,” says FNHA.

Surge in calls to crisis line

Cindy McAnerin, executive assistant and advocate for the KUU-US Crisis Line Society in Port Alberni, says that while things are beginning to improve through broader awareness and government funding, “large gaps” in mental health services continue to exist. According to the progress report, developments have been made towards establishing Foundry centres, which provide youth with access to mental health care, substance use services, primary care, social services and youth and family peer support, all in one location. Foundry centres are open in 11 communities, including Campbell River and Victoria but have yet to make their way to the west coast of Vancouver Island. “Port Alberni doesn’t have anything like that,” says McAnerin. “We defi nitely still see gaps in services and facilities for people [in the region].” In June 2020, Foundry launched virtual services to support young people and their families through the Foundry BC app, which was co-created by youth and the Province. “This service is fi lling a large gap and reaching youth that are unable to access our centres from across B.C.,” says Steve Mathias, Foundry executive director. “It is ensuring we achieve our vision of reaching young people early, to help address small problems before they become bigger ones.” McAnerin says that KUU-US’ crisis line receives around 1,000 to 1,2000 calls every month. The call volume almost doubled after the discovery of unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in May, she says Elizabeth Newcombe is the executive director of the Vancouver Island Crisis Society in Nanaimo and says she’s proud of the work that’s been done to enhance the province’s crisis line network over the past two years. “We’ve worked very hard to align all our standards together,” says Newcombe. “We’re improving service in the crisis line world.” Following the emergence of COVID-19, the progress report identifi ed that crisis line call volumes and demand increased. Newcombe says the Vancouver Island Crisis Society’s call volume alone rose 9 per cent between April 2020 to March 2021. “We were fi elding a lot of extra calls,” she says. “Ten per cent of our call volume was COVID-19 related.” To help respond to the increased demand, the Ministry of Health allocated a one-time funding of $690,000 to provincial crisis lines in July 2020. Looking ahead, the province acknowledges that “more must be done to address Indigenous-specifi c racism in mental health and substance use services” and says it will continue to invest in building mental health and addictions services that work for everyone in B.C. “As A Pathway to Hope progresses, British Columbians who are experiencing mental health and substance use challenges and their families will see further improvements in access and quality of care as the system strengthens and evolves,” says the ministry.

Photo by Denise Titian Tundra, a nearly 15-year-old female wolfdog, visited students at Haahuupayak School with her owner, Garry Allen, on Sept. 15, before heading to Ucluelet Secondary.

Tundra the wolf visits Haahuupayak students

Children learn about similarities between wolves and people, while recognizing the interconnectedness of all

By Denise Titian Ha-Shilth-Sa Reporter

Port Alberni, BC – The Grades 6 and 7 students of Haahuupayak School played host to a very special guest on Wednesday, Sept. 15. Tundra, a domesticated wolf hybrid arrived with her owner, Gary Allen, to help the students learn about the importance of the animal in a healthy ecosystem. Tundra, a nearly 15-year-old female wolfdog, is calm, gentle and remarkable in that the average lifespan of a wild wolf is fi ve years. Ninety per cent wolf and 10 per cent Samoyed dog, Tundra is a gentle, geriatric wolfdog who feels the eff ects of age in the form of arthritis in her hips. Allen allowed Tundra on a leash, to lead the group of students and teachers along a system of trails in a small patch of forest adjacent to the school. The group stopped in small clearings allowing Allen to talk about the importance of wolves in a healthy ecosystem while Tundra, curious, gently pulled at the leash to explore more trail. Allen told the students wolves are a keystone species, meaning that they need to be left alone in intact social groups so that young wolves properly learn to hunt large game from the older wolves, a process that takes a few years. If the older wolves are killed off , the younger wolves are left to fend for themselves with their limited hunting skills. They often resort to hunting easier prey, like domestic animals. In addition, wolves look for the sick, old, or injured animals to feed on, keeping the herd healthy. “They go after the animals that hunters wouldn’t want,” Allen told the students. The students were allowed to pet Tundra and ask questions about her. Summer Little, a Grade 7 student, said she learned that you cannot train a wolf to do dog tricks; Allen explained that wolves are too stubborn to train in that way. She also learned that wolves can communicate with each other. Leland, in sixth grade, said wolves are pretty cool. “They can howl as long as 10 seconds, to communicate with each other,” he said. “Wolves can smell prey as far as two miles away,” said Andraya Brossault, Grade 6. “And they can be very gentle if they know you have no intention of hurting them.” “I want to pet wolves that are very friendly,” said Nathaniel, Grade 6. “They’re pretty cool…tall and chunky,” said Vinson, Grade 6. “Wolves and humans have a lot in common,” added Phyllis, Grade 7. “Both are friendly, they communicate with each other and both hunt.” Allen talked about Hishukish tsawok, the Nuu-chah-nulth words meaning everything is one or interconnected. “I am passionate about the need to protect biodiversity in order to promote healthy ecosystems,” he said. Tundra and Allen headed to Ucluelet for a couple of days and planned to return to Haahuupayak School for another presentation with another class on Friday, September 17. For more information about Tundra the wolf and Tundra Speaks Society, visit https://tundraspeaks.com/about/

Phrase†of†the†week:†yuuxt’aʔiš ʔał q’uuʔus ʔuuʔipʔałquink ʔaaq ʔaakwastiił

Pronounced ‘Yu h ta ish alth koo us Oo up alt kin ark Ark qust fi lth’, it means ‘Everyone is always so excited when dog salmon come in, All are getting ready to smoke them’. Supplied by ciisma.