Orange Shirt Day, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, is always a day of reflection and remembrance.
But for Tseshaht First Nation in Port Alberni, the day was also one of celebration on Saturday, Sept. 30. This year, the nation marked 50 years since the closing of the Alberni Indian Residential School (AIRS).
In 1893, the Presbyterian Church and Government of Canada started a boarding school for girls known as the Alberni Girls’ Home on Tseshaht First Nation territory. In the 1900s, this became the Alberni Indian Residential School. Children as young as five years old, some of whom didn’t speak English, were forced to travel from all over British Columbia to attend the school.
The school was finally closed in 1973 due to pressure from the West Coast District Council of Indian Chiefs.
“It was a school that we never asked for,” Tseshaht First Nation elected Chief Councillor Wahmeesh (Ken Watts) told a crowd gathered at the Best Western Plus Barclay Hotel in Port Alberni on Saturday. “A school that we never consented to. But it’s a school that we have to live with, as an open wound in our community.”
Former students of AIRS have testified to the physical and sexual abuse that occurred at the school. A research project undertaken in 2022 revealed that at least 67 children died while attending the school.
Students who attended the school between 1959 and 1964 had one outlet, and this was their artwork. Artist Robert Aller taught extracurricular art classes at AIRS as a volunteer. Aller gave the children the freedom to paint whatever they wanted, which were often scenes of home, of their culture and of nature.
Aller collected several pieces of artwork from children throughout his years teaching, and some of this artwork was on display at the Best Western Plus Barclay Hotel on Saturday. A number of survivors attended the art show to tell visitors about their experiences at the school and their paintings.
After the art show, hundreds of people gathered outside of the hotel to walk all the way to Maht Mahs Gym, on the former site of AIRS. The walk took people over the Orange Bridge on Highway 4, reflecting the trip that many Indigenous children had to make when they were taken from their homes to AIRS.
“It’s really important that everybody understands why we’re walking,” Watts told the crowd before the walk began. “It isn’t just to wear orange shirts. What’s happening today is much bigger than all of us.”
Watts says the resiliency of survivors is the reason that the Nuu-chah-nulth language and customs have been able to survive all these years.
“Despite all the atrocities, despite all the terrible things that happened, we are still here,” said Watts, to resounding applause and cheers from the crowd.
The walk was followed by a lunch and dinner, and even a sock hop, at Maht Mahs to celebrate the closing of the residential school.
@elenarardon
elena.rardon@albernivalleynews.com
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