Orange Shirt Day - Sculpture unveiling - Tamara Bell, Artist

In the week leading up to Orange Shirt Day and National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, VCC's Indigenous Education and Community Engagement department will be hosting a series of events and activities to enhance our college community's understanding and awareness of the history of residential schools, the Indian Act, and the origin of Orange Shirt Day.

We encourage you to wear orange throughout the week.

BROADWAY CAMPUS ACTIVITIES

September 25, 10:00 - 11:01 a.m., BWY campus, main entrance
Flag raising ceremony
11:00 - 11:01 a.m.: BWY/DTN campus
Please observe a minute of reflection for the lost children, their families, and communities whose lives were forever impacted by Residential Schools

September 26, 1:00 - 2:00 p.m., BWY campus, building B, Event Space
Sculpture unveiling - Tamara Bell, Artist

“Art Installation to commemorate and honour the children who perished at residential schools across Canada (Turtle Island).  The permanent installation will feature columns of books arranged in a circle. The spines of the books that form each pillar will provide a flat surface on which a photograph of an Indigenous child who attended one of the many horrific Residential Schools will be applied.  Testimonies of the survivors and their descriptions of their painful experiences will be written on the outer surface of the pairs of shoes, with each pair positioned on the top of the book column.  The shoes will be tied with chains in place of laces, representing the bondage subjected upon each child who was forced to attend these schools”. - Tamara Bell

September 27, 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m., BWY campus, building B, Event Space
Honouring Orange Shirt Day

Orange Shirt Day is an opportunity for all of us to acknowledge the physical, psychological and cultural impact that the Residential School system had, and continues to have, on our Indigenous colleagues, their families and our broader Indigenous community.

Hear stories and learn how colonial laws, policies and practice controlled Indigenous peoples and their traditional lands. There will be various activities including an opportunity to write what Orange Shirt Day means to you. Bannock will be served. Interpreters will be available.