Artwork, writing by Poplar River First Nation students reflects on lingering effects of residential schools
Students in remote Manitoba First Nation wrote essays, made posters in week leading up to Orange Shirt Day
As the intergenerational trauma of residential schools lingers, students in one remote First Nation in eastern Manitoba have taken time in the lead-up to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to consider how their own family and community members have been affected.
Those personal connections make learning about the impact of residential schools all the more important for both staff and students in Poplar River First Nation, says Shaylene Bruce, a 19-year-old educational assistant at the nursery to Grade 12 school in the community, which is on the eastern side of Lake Winnipeg.
"My grandparents were residential school survivors," said Bruce. "My two grandfathers, my one grandmother and my other grandmother, she went to day school.
"So I deal with the trauma that they faced being passed on to us. We're still healing that within my family."
In 2021, Sept. 30 was designated by the federal government the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, in order to commemorate the history and ongoing trauma caused by residential schools and to honour the survivors, families and communities who continue to grieve for those who were lost. For the first time this year, it is also a statutory holiday in Manitoba.
In the week leading up Sept. 30 — which is also known as Orange Shirt Day — younger Poplar River students coloured orange shirts, while older students made posters and wrote essays on why the day is important.
Nanci Sanderson, a 17-year-old student in Grade 11, said she thought of those who never returned home, as well as the survivors, when she wrote her essay.
"I'm just happy that they are able to tell us what they went through and I'm happy that it's not around anymore," Sanderson said.
Survivors' experiences key to understanding
Hallways in the school, which has more than 400 students, were filled with art that included orange shirts and "Every Child Matters" signs.
Students at the school have previously heard the stories of residential school survivors from Poplar River First Nation — which has more than 2,100 members, including an on-reserve population of just over 1,200 — either in person or through videos of them sharing their experience. Some have also heard the stories shared by their family members.
Hearing about those experiences helps Grade 12 student Keysha Douglas reflect.
"It's important to remember all the people, what they went through during the tough times of residential schools," Douglas said.
And she said it's important for younger people, and all Canadians, to understand the lasting impact.
"There's still some people that hold hatred in their hearts for what happened, and there's still people who are trying to cope with it," said Douglas. "I think it's really important to understand what they're going through."
Sara Hudson, a Grade 12 student, used her essay to write about the need for addiction treatment programs to help people who turned to substances to cope with the trauma.
"It just recognizes, acknowledges our elders and the pain that we still feel as a whole people, because the communities, the families are still experiencing the pain," Hudson said.
Bethany Cardiff, the school's acting principal, said many students have family who attended the schools.
"So it's good to keep it in the forefront because yes, it's happened in the past, but … it's affecting students even today in their family lives," Cardiff said.
Teaching younger kids about what happened can be difficult, says Debra Bittern, who teaches Grade 1 at Poplar River School. She leans on children's literature to help kids relate to the experiences of residential school students.
That includes the story of Phyllis Webstad, who inspired what is now called Orange Shirt Day. In 1973, when she arrived at a residential school at age six, the new orange shirt she was given by her grandmother was taken away.
"We sat down and I talked about it and I made a little book about Phyllis and her orange shirt and I told them, 'She was exactly your age, in Grade 1, when she was taken away,'" Bittern said.
Bruce said she didn't start learning about residential schools until she went to Winnipeg for high school.
"I feel like now they're doing a better job of that. They're making sure to teach them what it is, why it happened, when it happened," she said.
Seeing students take an interest in learning about residential schools gives her hope for the future, said Bruce.
"It's just the little details that they choose to pick out. You can give them something and say 'write this down,' and then they'll read more and they'll find something else that you didn't even see.
"So that's interesting to me — that they can teach me as well."
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