Orange Santa campaign spreading Christmas cheer

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This article was published 18/12/2021 (1774 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

KEESEEKOOWENIN — Celebrating the holiday season while honouring Every Child Matters, representatives from the Southern Chiefs’ Organization joined Orange Santa in visiting Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation Friday.

The trip to Keeseekoowenin Elementary School is one of 12 planned community visits during the Orange Santa campaign, said Coty Zachariah, a policy analyst with the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO).

“I’m just very happy that we get to end what’s been a long and emotional year for First Nations people on a bit of a positive note,” Zachariah said.

The Orange Santa campaign was launched in 2021 to help celebrate the holidays while spreading awareness for Every Child Matters. Festivities kicked off Dec. 8. First Nations communities receiving visits from Santa include Birdtail Sioux, Ebb and Flow, Roseau River, Poplar River, Bloodvein, Dakota Plains, Keseekoowenin, Skownan, Sagkeeng and Lake Manitoba.

“Grand Chief [Jerry] Daniels has a vision of an Orange Santa going out to kids on the reserve and bringing out gifts. I think that has something to do with everything that’s been going on this year; it started with the 215 [unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School], and Orange Shirt Day finally getting national recognition,” he said, referring to the newly established National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30.

“We just thought it’s time to put our spin on Christmas and try and bring gifts out to people who are under-serviced.”

Zachariah said the hope is the presents will help brighten the 99 nursery to Grade 9 students who attend Keeseekoowenin Elementary.

Zachariah has participated in a majority of the present deliveries across southern Manitoba.

“It brings you back when you see the kids just really excited to see Santa.”

When the students ask why Santa is not in his traditional red garb, it serves as an opportunity to talk to youth about the importance of Every Child Matters and the colour orange.

“To be honest, a lot of the kids already know. When he goes up and says ‘does anybody know why I’m wearing orange?’ Some of them will say because of truth and reconciliation and Every Child Matters,” Zachariah said.

These topics are essential subjects to tackle because up until 2021, the history of Indigenous people in Canada, especially in regard to residential schools, was not often spoken about.

“We’re happy to see now kids are getting a chance to talk about that. They know about some of the atrocities at residential schools and they’ve seen the resilience of their people,” Zachariah said.

The SCO team visited many former residential school sites across Canada, including Kamloops, in 2021. Zachariah said one could feel the lingering trauma of the events that unfolded.

The Orange Santa campaign is an opportunity to honour what they experienced during these visits while finding a way to spread positivity in communities.

“It’s just amazing, and it just warms your heart to see these kids are learning in healthy and safe environments now and are aware of what happened to their ancestors and family members.

“When you think of what happened to our families, many of us, we’ve lost people in our family. To now get to talk to kids and bring some joy, it’s kind of a full-circle moment for us.”

Keeseekoowenin Elementary School students were excited during the lead-up to the visit from Orange Santa, said principal Audrey Blackbird. She appreciated how SCO was able to tie in a way to honour Every Child Matters while celebrating the holidays.

“The teachers have been explaining and the [students] have been answering when they ask why they think [Santa is] orange. It’s for residential school survivors and also the ones that were lost,” Blackbird said. “For us, it’s something that’s being recognized now, and we’re making sure that it’s not forgotten.”

Blackbird said students were especially looking forward to the special event because there have been limited opportunities to come together as a community during the pandemic.

“They’ve been staying at home and it’s been tough on them.

“Having this is something for them to remember and think about — we can’t forget about them.”

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have proven to be formidable in Keeseekoowenin. There have been a few times when the elementary school has been forced to move to online learning due to cases of the virus being detected in the community.

The school year started off with blended learning in September and moved to fully in-person learning on Oct. 12. School staff have been diligently working to ensure health measures are in place to protect the students. This has included access to personal protective equipment, heavy sanitization and cohorts for the duration of the school year.

“Being back in school, I think, they’re happy to be back and are trying to get it as normal as possible. It’s [tough] too, because of all the planning … and changes with the COVID,” Blackbird said. “You would just start going and then all of a sudden something changes and we’re back to a lot of planning.”

In a typical year, the school hosts a Christmas concert for the Keeseekoowenin community, but it has been unable to host an event for the community since 2019 due to the global health crisis.

Blackbird said staff have done what they can to provide normalcy for students — this has included engaging in land-based learning and keeping classrooms to cohorts only.

“We still want to provide them with normalcy. Last year we gave gift cards and Christmas candies and we’re doing the same thing this year. The only thing is they don’t have their Christmas concert,” Blackbird said. “Having the Orange Santa and the elves, it will be something for the kids to remember.”

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