HALDIMAND—Jamie Hunter of Hagersville believes supporting causes has never been easier, including the purchasing of Orange Shirt Day merchandise – but it’s important to know where the proceeds go.
“It’s nice that people want to show support, but if the money is not going to go towards Indigenous organizations, what’s the point?” asked the 43-year-old. “Then we’re just giving money back to not just white man, but the corporations who steal from all of us.”
Hunter is Mohawk Bear clan, and a marketing analyst. He’s been buying ‘Every Child Matters’ merchandise, such as flags and clothing, for friends and supportive colleagues from specific artists and suppliers, although he would not divulge from whom.
“It’s important, even if you’re buying from a local shop and not a random ‘big box store,’ unless they’re specifically in partnership with an Indigenous organization,” he said. “The merch for this day isn’t the same as other themed observances; this is about supporting the truth of what happened and reconciling it all.”
September 30 marks the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day: a time to honour the children who died from being forced to attend residential schools, those who survived, and the legacy of trauma.
Many people now wear orange shirts to commemorate residential school survivors and to support Truth and Reconciliation. The idea of the shirt and colour originates from the story of Phyllis Webstad from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation. She was 6-years-old when she was taken to St. Joseph’s Residential School in 1973. There, she was stripped of her clothes, including an orange shirt given to her by her grandmother.
The shirt became a symbol, and one that Indigenous educator and Seneca Deer Clan woman, Jodi Vander Heide-Buswa, said must remain a symbol and not a money grab for “big box companies.”
“I live in Dunnville, so if a larger store offered a section so I could sell my shirts, maybe we could figure it out, and the money would be donated,” she said. “But they don’t do that because they don’t care because it’s all about the money to them.
“Okay, maybe people feel good buying it, but Indigenous companies miss out because the big box stores can afford to sell it cheaper. We cannot.”
Vander Heide-Buswa advised against buying a new orange shirt if you already had one, because it is about the colour, not the trend.
“That’s all you need,” she said. “Now, if you want one that says ‘Every Child Matters,’ then obviously go to an Indigenous artist or business.
“And not every Indigenous business is sourcing them from that, they’re out for the money and not the meaning.”
Vander Heide-Buswa will be at the Optimist Club of Dunnville on September 30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to facilitate a blanket exercise KAIROS, a joint venture ecumenical program through the United Church of Canada.
The KAIROS Blanket Exercise is an experiential activity that takes a person through the history of colonization in Canada, created as a response to the 1996 report of the Royal Commission on Indigenous peoples in 1997.
“It’s an interactive exercise that puts you in the perspective of an Indigenous person on how colonization happened, why it happened,” said Vander Heide-Buswa. “And at the end, I go over what we can do about it.
“I want the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to be stronger for the future generations, and we’re not at government levels, so I do it at everyday levels, and okay, you’re not the Prime Minister of Canada, but you are somebody who can make a difference.”
She said the solution to truth and reconciliation was actually simple: “There are 94 calls to action, and that’s where you’re going to turn to, because those calls to action lay it all out for you on the things that they’re looking for, for reconciliation, like how do we build or rebuild a relationship,” she said. “That’s controversial, because some say it can’t be fixed: you can’t reconcile a relationship that never was.”
She concluded, “People have different ideas, but realistically we did have a relationship. It just really started to go south after the War of 1812.”
