‘We’ll stand for the children’: crowds gather for Orange Shirt Day in Winnipeg

As Jazmyn-Rae Desjarlais carried her nearly two-year-old daughter in her arms, she said every step she took honoured her ancestors’ and relatives’ pain from residential schools.

The 25-year-old from Brokenhead Ojibway Nation, located roughly 60 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, said she’s grateful her daughter will never experience the trauma caused by those institutions, but it’s necessary to continue remembering the abuse Indigenous people have faced for reconciliation to happen.

“History doesn’t disappear just because it already happened. We’re still dealing with it. We’re still taking steps to heal every day,” she said.

Desjarlais was among thousands of people, clad in orange shirts, who marched through downtown Winnipeg to honour those who survived and died in residential schools.

Wednesday marked National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day. It was first enshrined as a Manitoba statutory holiday on Sept. 30, 2024.

As part of the many organized events throughout the province, the Southern Chiefs Organization held the sixth annual Orange Shirt Day Healing Walk and Pow Wow.

The march began with Indigenous elders leading prayers and a pipe ceremony at Oodena Celebration Circle at The Forks. The smell wafted through the wind as the gathering’s atmosphere turned solemn.

Belinda Vandenbroeck, an elder and residential school survivor, told the crowd she was being colonized throughout the 10 years she spent there. It was a deliberate action to remove Indigenous culture from the students, she said.

“Our lives were disconnected and separated. So you grew up in those systems not feeling good about who you are,” she said.

Vandenbroeck said she started to love her Indigenous identity again when the scent of burning sweetgrass from a smudging ceremony hit her nose in the 1970s. That moment was her awakening and the beginning of her healing journey, she said.

SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels said that Indigenous people need to take back their history so it will never be forgotten.

“Let’s walk and let’s remind people every single day that we will stand for the youth and we’ll stand for the children,” he said.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said Wednesday is a critical day for everyone to remember the families impacted by residential schools, the children who never came home and the lingering harm caused by the residential school system.

“It’s a day to learn, to listen to survivors, to learn the truths they shared and to recognize that reconciliation requires much more than words, but it requires action,” he said.

Michael Hirsch listened to the speakers with his children, who held a sign stating, “You tried to erase us but we’re still here.”

Originally from Winnipeg, police ripped him away from his North End home at five-years-old during the 60s Scoop. He was later adopted by a Minnesota family. Since his parents were forced into residential schools as children, his removal compounded the trauma, Hirsch said.

“I’m trying to make the best out of it now, but they [the Canadian government] tried to destroy my culture and language,” the 51-year-old said.

Now, he wants to ensure his children know their identity, how to pray with tobacco and what smudging means. Knowledge is the greatest thing to pass down, he said.

People marched with arms intertwined while Indigenous drums rang throughout Main Street. Laughs and smiles punctuated the crowd. Women wore multicoloured ribbon skirts with stitched flowers stretching across the fabric.

One of those women was 42-year-old Monica Campeau, who brought her hand drum to join the many songs heard during the march. People gathering together for a common goal and publicly expressing Indigenous culture and language shows that the people are unified and strong, she said.

“The separation that they [governments] tried to do a long time ago didn’t work,” Campeau said. “It’s something for us to be proud of, something for us to hold our heads high.”

She said she raised her children with love and compassion at home because her relatives who were forced into residential schools never felt that care.

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For reconciliation to continue, there needs to be help for Indigenous people struggling on Winnipeg streets, she said, and all levels of government need to continue taking accountability.

The march ended at Canada Life Centre for a powwow as people eagerly poured into the arena. The rhythmic pounding of drum circles set the cadence for dancers dressed in blue, green and purple.

Nicolina Traverse, from Little Saskatchewan First Nation, located roughly 220 km northwest of Winnipeg, arrived with a hand drum painted with a white butterfly, which symbolizes freedom.

She said reconciliation is a slow process, but events like the march are a crucial step in the right direction.

“Everyone that’s here recognizes what we’ve been through, and it’s an important step to come together as a family and community to acknowledge that,” Traverse said.