Monday is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, and for many who experienced residential schools firsthand, it can bring back painful memories, making it a difficult day to endure. In consideration of this, Children of Mother Earth Network founder Angela Roulette is holding a special event with survivors on Sunday, the day before.
“We’re going to put up something called a pop-up powwow, and it’s to honour our residential school survivors. I realize that I, myself, am not a residential school survivor, but my mother was a student at the school. I want to honour her at the same time. I’m going to keep trying to make her proud of what she taught me. I decided to do this with the help of our women’s group, who meet every Tuesday, and we decided to do something for the residential school survivors.”
Also known as Orange Shirt Day, Roulette explains she thought the event could even be something of a picnic for the survivors.
“We’re just going to sit, eat, and we invited the drum group that’s going to come and sing. I’ve invited some dancers. It’s casual, and not like the regular summer powwows where people work and prepare to compete. We’re not doing that. We’re just going to dance and sing for the survivors. I recently went to the Keesh seniors' housing units and invited them all. I went door to door. Most of them knew me, and I knew them, so I explained what we were doing and said, ‘You’ll be able to hear the drum from here. If you’re sitting around maybe watching TV, you could walk or come over.’”
The event takes place between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on the former residential school grounds.
“It’s whenever you get there. That’s how we Anishinaabe people roll. We say we get there when we get there, but I’ll be there early to make sure everything is set up right. It’s going to be fun, and there will be a lot of visiting, which is something in our culture that has been missing. I’ve heard before that we don’t visit anymore. The people who come will know one another and be able to have a little chat. I’ve even thought of seating the seniors, elders, and survivors facing away from the school. This will be right in front of the residential school, so they don’t necessarily have to see the building.”
Roulette says the drum acts as the heart of the group and will be placed in the middle of the circle of chairs for those who want to attend. She adds there will be no official MC, but dancers and singers will perform while everyone has the opportunity to sit and chat, making it a casual event.
“I have no money to do these things, but some groups partnered with us. A group of women from Ottawa called the Legacy of Hope Foundation, who do work with residential school projects, are coming to Winnipeg. They’ve been to Portage a couple of times. They’re going to take care of the honorarium for the drum, the dancers, and the food. I’ve already started asking the women about the proper way to offer tobacco, ‘Can you come and make bannock for us?’ We’re providing all the ingredients and not expecting them to do anything other than prepare. We even have Parks Canada involved, who helped with some funding.”
Roulette notes she also spent time at Elm Creek Colony this past week, presenting the story of the orange shirt that is shared every year at this time.