Flag-raising ceremony at city hall kicks off Truth and Reconciliation Week

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This article was published 28/09/2024 (392 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was a sea of orange at Brandon City Hall Friday morning, as dozens of people wearing “Every Child Matters” shirts watched the Indigenous flag being raised to signal the start of Truth and Reconciliation Week in Westman.

“I had a tear in my eye,” said Verna Catcheway, who came from the Ebb and Flow First Nation east of Dauphin to see the flag raising.

“I feel pride in the togetherness and hope that this is the path forward that we need. Especially for my granddaughter,” Catcheway said.

Children from local daycares were invited to help hoist the flag along with Deputy Mayor Glen Parker and other dignitaries.

The opening prayer song was sung by Susie McPherson-Derendy, one of the knowledge keepers at Brandon University and Assiniboine College, and a counsellor at the Healing and Wellness Centre.

McPherson-Derendy didn’t go to residential school, she said, but her relatives did, “so we lost a lot of relatives — even still today — to all kinds of different things like addictions and suicide.”

Now her focus is on working with those who were impacted by residential schools by having their identity and traditions taken away.

“We pick it up, we reclaim, we reconnect with our identity and our story,” said McPherson-Derendy.

“And it’s not just Indigenous Peoples’ story, it’s really everyone’s story. I always say that personal reconciliation is going to make the biggest difference, because if every one of us focused on our own personal story and reconciling with the story of the past, the story of the land, who the people were, knowing all those things, I think we will be a better society and we will live into a better future for us all,” she said.

Holding a healing ceremony and inviting the community to take part is how White Blackwolf, a 52-year-old Saulteaux Ojibwe man originally from the Sagkeeng First Nation, chose to show respect for residential school survivors.

White Blackwolf is his traditional name, he told the Sun, while the name he was given by the government is Douglas Gerrard.

“I attended residential day school,” he said. “I’m lucky that I could go home, and yes, there was punishment and stuff that shouldn’t have happened. But when I think about my mom — she did live there for 10 years.

“So, when we think about those survivors, we roll out the red carpet, give them the respect and anything they want,” he said.

On Tuesday evening, White Blackwolf and others joined members of the Sioux Valley First Nation for a ceremony at Park Community Centre that was a “grassroots, traditional ceremony with a potluck meal, drummers, smudging and survivor stories,” he said.

One of the most impactful parts of the ceremony, he added, was the time set aside for healing. People were invited to stand on a ceremonial blanket while being fanned with eagle feathers by two First Nation members.

“We opened that part of the ceremony to the community because we all need to heal,” White Blackwolf said.

“It’s not only the survivors that need the fanning-down ceremony — we all carry a lot of trials and tribulations too, and we want to get rid of that,” he said.

“And we have all come a long way, I believe, from May 27, 2021, the day that shook Turtle Island in Canada, when the graves were discovered at Kamloops, and we can’t ever forget that.”

Natashia Marion, the Indigenous community co-ordinator for the Brandon Urban Aboriginal Peoples’ Council, was part of Friday’s flag-raising at city hall and is one of the organizers of the events that will take place before, during and after Sept. 30, also known as Orange Shirt Day.

“It’s a day of remembrance, a day of reconciliation, so it’s not really a reason to celebrate. It’s more about the day we commemorate the residential school survivors,” Marion said.

“And we want people to come out and ask a lot of questions because we’re offering a culturally safe space filled with sensitive knowledge keepers who will answer any questions at all,” she said.

All the events during Truth and Reconciliation Week planned until Oct. 4, are centred around the Brandon Riverbank Discovery Centre, which Marion said is a grassroots and spiritual area, where “a lot of historical Indigenous trails intersected.”

“It is sacred at times, but it is always very spiritually grounded and welcoming,” said Marion.

On Saturday, the Orange Shirt Day Cultural Camp for Youth in Care runs all day (with registration required) and then at 1 p.m., Brandon Police Service Const. Amanda Conway hosts the Pulling Together Canoe event.

Sunday at 11 a.m., McPherson-Derendy and Debby Dandy will take people through the Kairos blanket exercise. And from noon to 4 p.m., there will be beading, drumming, singing and Indigenous teachings.

Truth and Reconciliation Day activities Monday start at 7 a.m. with a sunrise pipe ceremony and sacred fire lighting with Elder Frank Tacan and Knowledge Keeper Tim Bone.

At noon, the Orange Shirt Day Walk follows a route from the Riverbank Discovery Centre to the Brandon Residential School site.

Also on Monday, an Indigenous artists’ market will be set up from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Riverbank.

At 3 p.m., there will be a free barbecue lunch with the Men’s Resource Centre, singing by Ida Henderson and a presentation on Indigenous food sovereignty by chef Andrew George Jr.

There will also be Indigenous teachings by knowledge keepers and elders, drumming, dancing, a children’s play area, an elders’ rest area and food trucks.

On Wednesday, the Men’s Resource Centre is hosting “Walking in Unity to Bring Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Men and Boys” at the Riverbank from 1 to 4 p.m.

Truth and Reconciliation Week wraps up on Friday with a Sisters in Spirit petal ceremony at Dinsdale Park at 10 a.m.

The closing ceremonies begin at 5 p.m. at the Riverbank, ending with a feast that is also open to the public.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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