Monday, September 22, 2025

Canada Turns Orange for Change

 

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30 recognizes the tragic legacy of residential school, the missing children, the families left behind and the survivors of these institutions. The first such day of recognition was held in 2021, by the founding non-profit organization, the Orange Shirt Society. Since then, Canadian provinces, cities and schools have honoured the children who never returned home and those that survived the mistreatment and impacts of the residential school system, which was a tragic and painful mark on Canadian history.

Combined with Orange Shirt Day the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a day when all Canadians join together, led by Indigenous communities, to raise awareness about the intergenerational impacts of residential schools on children, families and communities. It pays homage to the hundreds of Indigenous children who were lost in the residential school system and long buried in unmarked graves that have only been discovered in recent years. A symbol of lost culture, freedom and self-esteem that many Indigenous children experienced, the orange shirt reminds all of us that Every Child Matters.

In response, public local activities and gatherings are being organized to draw attention to the history and legacy of residential schools all across the nation. At Twelve Mile Coulee School, we are one of many schools that will be promoting the wearing of orange shirts to be a visible reminder of the message, Every Child Matters.

National Commemorative Gathering

APTN and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation invite Canadians to take part in the National Commemorative Gathering: Remembering the Children—National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This 90-minute commemorative event highlights survivors as well as Indigenous artists. The event will be broadcast live from Parliament Hill, starting at 1 p.m. MST (3 p.m. EST) on the APTN channel and on several major television and radio networks. 

National Truth and Reconciliation Library Collection

The federal Truth and Reconciliation Commission operated from 2008 to 2015, with the sole purpose to  provide those affected by the legacy of the Residential Schools Policy to present testimonials, stories, statements and experiences. The commission documented the materials gathered and created a library collection for ongoing research.

TMC's Library Collection

Over the past several years, we have steadily accumulated a growing collection of books and audio/visual resources focusing on the residential schools, and their survivors, including:

Orange Shirt Day

On Sept. 30, TMC students and staff will join thousands of other schools in Canada in wearing orange to show solidarity to the Orange Shirt Day movement. This year, the day falls on the eve of the newly appointed National Day of Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30, which will be a non-school day at the Calgary Board of Education, and a day to reflect on the impact residential schools have on our society's past, present and future. 

The Orange Shirt Story by Phyllis Webstad, chronicling an eight-year-old's 12 months at the Mission residential school in British Columbia, and the significance of the Orange Shirt movement. It is one of many books on residential schools we have purchased for our Learning Commons collection.

Phyllis (Jack) Webstad's Orange Shirt Story

Follow on Twitter: #OrangeShirtDay
Click to Learn more about Orange Shirt Day


Secret Path Week: Oct. 17 - 22

Secret Path Week is a national movement which occurs annually from Oct. 17-22. 

The week was inspired by The Secret Path by deceased author and Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie and Jeff Lemire. The graphic novel is a heart-rending story of an indigenous boy, Chanie Wenjack, who froze to death while running away from a residential school in an effort to reunite with his family. 

Organizers of the week challenge Canadians to use the week to answer 's call to action, "to 'do something' by creating a reconciliaACTION and furthering the conversation about the history of residential schools.

Watch the animated Secret Path Movie:

In this CBC Arts Live documentary, Downie sings his song of the same name, delivering a haunting musical commemoration of Chanie's life and his fatal trek to return home to Ogoki Post, some 600 kilometres away. The. documentary also includes conversations with Chanie Wenjack's family and the impact his tragic death, as well as the residential schools' impact on their community, their culture, their families.
This documentary includes a panel discussion on The Road to Reconciliation



History of Residential Schools in Canada

There were 140 federally run Indian Residential Schools in Canada, which operated between 1831 and 1998, with the last school closing some 23 years ago. 

Survivors advocated for recognition and reparations, as well as demanded accountability for the lasting legacy of harms caused by the schools.

The commission's efforts resulted in:

Digital Resources

Kids News Explains What is Reconciliation?



The Importance of National Truth and Reconciliation Day by Cree author Michelle Good.

Residential Schools in Canada: A Timeline by Historica Canada



Namwayut: We Are All One: Chief Robert Joseph shares his experience as a residential school survivor and the importance of truth and reconciliation in Canada













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Monday, February 3, 2025

Celebrating Black History, Legacy and Culture

Several years ago, I mentioned to a group of students in the Learning Commons that the first time I saw someone of colour was in my first year of college. They were astounded, and rightfully so. Having grown up in a small outport community in Newfoundland that was settled by predominantly British immigrants, the culture observed in one house was nearly identical to that in another.

How boring!

How sad.

Which is why when I graduated college and moved to Toronto to attend Ryerson, my two years there were spent discovering the advantages of a culturally diverse nation. I developed close friendships with people from Hong Kong, Japan, China, Nigeria, Scandinavia, Australia, and India. I went to their homes, weddings, New Year's celebrations, cultural events and festivals. Experiencing those cultures and traditions gave me insight I had never had before, as well as perspective. It made me realize we are all striving to be understood, to be accepted for who we are, and be appreciated and valued by our contributions and our ideals. I gained a better love for my own Newfoundland traditions and cultures, along the way, as I had to explain EVERYTHING to everyone I met, from jigg's dinner, seal-flipper pie and figgy duffs to tanning (not the tanning-bed kind), jigging, fish flakes and why our houses are so colourful (hint: Fog, b'ye!).

So for Black Heritage Month, I challenge everyone to stretch themselves by digging a little deeper into a culture not their own. In my experience, food is a great way to start! Try a Feast and Fact Night, where you select one country and then make a menu highlighting that country's delicacies, and then have discussions about the country's culture, environment, etc.  In our family, for example, we have Nigerian Sunday to celebrate Nigerian Independence Day, which falls on Oct. 1, and Remembrance Day dinner, where we cook something from the Second World War era. Veteran's Affairs Canada actually has a site for wartime food! CBC did a How to Eat Your Way Through Black History Month article in 2019 that I would highly recommend. It even has links to recipies!

Now that you have your bellies full of cultural cuisine diversity, stretch a little further to enlighten yourself with cultural education diversity, and feed on the information so that you can better understand and ensure historic atrocities handed down to others do not repeat themselves. 

Knowledge is always the armour against racism, by the way, because the more you know about a people, the more you empathize, relate, consider, include, support, defend, uplift those same people.

So, let's get started.

Part 1: Black History Month

The theme for the 2025 Black History Month is Black Legacy and Leadership: Celebrating Canadian History and Uplifting Future Generations. As Canadians, we often don't put much emphasis on our own Black History, including the fact that like the U.S., we had slavery in our midst. The enslavement of African peoples in what was then British North America (early-day Canada) was a legal means to have an easily accessible labour force to fuel colonial enterprise. European traders and colonists in New France participated in the buying, selling and enslavement of black people beginning in the early 1600s, and that practice lasted throughout British North America until 1834, when it was abolished. Whether they were the first enslaved people (indigenous; panis) or the last (black; domestique), their existence was legalized, fostered, and encouraged through legislation.

According to the Canadian Encyclopedia:
  • About 4,200 slaves in New France at the peak of slavery, about 2,700 of whom were indigenous who were enslaved until 1783, and at least 1,443 were black people enslaved between the late 1600s and 1831. 
  • Slavery in Canada was given a boost around the time of the American Revolution, when the Imperial Statute of 1790 encouraged United Empire Loyalists in the U.S. to bring their slaves north between 1775-1783. 
  • About 3,000 enslaved people of African descent were brought into British North America and by the l790s, the number of enslaved black people in the Maritimes (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island) was 1,200-2,000, with about another 300 in Lower Canada (Quebec) and 500-700 in Upper Canada (Ontario).
  • Black people and their communities have shaped nearly every aspect of Canadian society since the arrival of Mathieu DaCosta in the 1600s, a free man who was thought to be the first black person to arrive in British North America. Da Costa was employed as a navigator and interpreter for Samuel de Champlain. 
There have been black people living in our province since before the 1870s, working as fur traders or cowboys. 
According to Alberta's Heritage Community Foundation:
  • There were 37 documented black settlers in the province in 1901, a number that grew tremendously after advertisements were placed in Oklahoma newspapers looking for settlers to move to province. 
  • Between 1908 and 1911, more than 1,000 black people migrated north to Alberta, as a result. However, upon their arrival, they were treated with the same racism and discrimination they had undergone in Oklahoma. 
  • Advertisements to discourage black migration were subsequently placed in newspapers in the U.S. state but despite this deterrent, their numbers grew as more and more fled north. 
  • In 1911, the Boards of Trade in Strathcona, Calgary, Fort Saskatchewan and Morinville drafted a petition containing more than 3,000 signatures to Prime Minister Sir. Wilfrid Laurier opposing the entry of any more blacks into the province. 
  • Despite this overt unwelcome message, the black communities in Alberta survived and even thrived in the earlier part of the 20th century. Amber Valley, Junkins (now Wildwood), Keystone (now Breton) and Campsie were established by some of Alberta's most resourceful black pioneers.

Leaving a Legacy

Black History Month in Canada would probably have never took hold if not for the groundwork done by former slave owner, Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe. Long before slavery would be abolished in 1834, Simcoe urged government to pass the Anti-Slavery Act, which would free slaves 25 years old and older, and making it illegal to bring slaves into Upper Canada. This sparked the beginning of the Underground Railroad which, from 1800-1865, saw 20,000 black slaves smuggled into Upper Canada from the United States. Upon their arrival, they set to work making a life for themselves, and beginning a legacy of involvement and heritage.

Two such examples were Thornton and Lucie Blackburn, who after escaping slavery in Louisville, Kentucky, arrived in Toronto via the Underground Railroad in the 1830s, and then Thornton proceeded to start Toronto's first cab company. The couple took part in anti-slavery activities and donated time and money to assist other refugees in Canada. The duo were given the distinction of being "persons of national historic significance" by the Canadian government in 1999.

In 2008, the Senate passed a motion to recognize black Canadians and recognize February as Black History Month. In that motion, the legacy of notable black Canadians were highlighted, including:
  • Rose Fortune: North America's first black policewoman, as well as being an accomplished businesswoman and entrepreneur
  • William Hall: A seaman in the British Royal Navy who became the first black man to win the Victoria Cross
  • Anderson Ruffin Abbot: The first Canadian-born black person to graduate from medical school. He was a surgeon in Toronto and served as a civilian surgeon for the Union Army in the American Civil War
  • James Robinson Johnston: The first black graduate of the Dalhousie Law School (in fact, the first black Canadian to graduate from any university). He would later become a lawyer, politician and judge.
  • Portia White: One of Canada's greatest contraltos was considered one of the best classical singers of the 20th century, and paved the way for many other black musicians
  • Viola Desmond: Nova Scotia activist and businesswoman who challenged racial segregation at a cinema in new Glasgow, N.S., in 1946, by refusing to leave the whites-only section.
  • Harry Jerome: The black Canadian sprinter to hold both the 100-yard and 100-metre records. Born in Prince Albert, Sask. in 1940, he was also a teacher and consultant.
  • Lincoln MacCauley Alexander: The first black Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons in 1968, as well as being the first black Lieutenant Governor of Canada. In 2015, Jan. 21 was proclaimed as Lincoln Alexander Day across Canada for his many accomplishments
  • George Elliott Clark: Toronto poet, novelist and playwright who spent his life exploring the black culture and heritage of black Nova Scotia, earning a bachelors from the University of Waterloo, a masters from Dalhousie University and a doctorate from Queen's University along the way. His poetry collection includes Execution Poem: The Black Acadian Tragedy of George and Rue (2001), which won the Governor General's Literary Award.
  • Carrie Best: Human rights activist, journalist, broadcaster and founder of The Clarion, the first black-owned and published newspaper in Nova Scotia
  • Austin Clarke: Teacher and renowned novelist, Clarke was awarded Canada's most prestigious annual award for fiction, the Giller Prize, for his novel, The Polished Hoe
  • Maxine Tynes: Tynes was a celebrated poet and teacher, as well as being the first African Canadian to be appointed a member of the Board of Governors of Dalhousie University
  • Betty Riley: Of Saint John, N.B., Riley was the first black female television producer in Canada, airing the first all-black television program, Black Is, which dealt with issues that the black community faced, which was broadcasted every week in Montreal.
  • Oscar Peterson: Eminent jazz musician and Chancellor of York University in Toronto, Peterson joined the Johnny Holmes Orchestra in Montreal while still in high school and later formed his own trio, which further established him as a renowned performer in Canada, including being named Jazz Pianist of the Year in 1950, the Praemium Imperiale (the arts equivalent of the Nobel Prize, presented by the Japan Art Association), the UNESCO International Music Prize, eight-time Grammy Awards' winner, and three-time winner of the 1993 Glenn Gould Prize.
  • Wayne Adams: Politician, journalist, activist and entrepreneur, Adams was the first black person elected to the Nova Scotia Legislative Assembly and the first black cabinet minister in Nova Scotia. He received the Order of Canada and the Order of Nova Scotia.
From the serving in the many British North American and Canadian conflicts, including the War of 1812, to the all-black Coloured Hockey League of the Maritimes, which was founded in Nova Scotia in 1895, to artists, musicians, activists, politicians and journalists, the black community in Canada has a long history of stepping up, stepping out, and stepping forward for many to walk behind.

In fact, their legacy in the Maritimes can be further researched through many historic associations, post-secondary institutions and news agencies, including The University of New Brunswick, The Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia: African Nova Scotia Museum and Black Cultural Society, The Black Cultural Society of Prince Edward Island, CBC: The 'hidden' history of The Bog--Charlottetown's forgotten black neighbourhood.


Origin of Black History Month in Canada

In 1978, the Ontario Black History Society (OBHS) formerly proclaiming February as Black History Month. The following year, the first-ever Canadian proclamation was made by the City of Toronto. Ten years after the OBHS made its declaration, Nova Scotia designated February as Black History Month in 1988, which was renamed as African Heritage Month in 1996. In 1993, OBHS's motion to the Ontario government to make its proclamation a provincial one was successful and paved the way for a national proclamation in the House of Commons in 1995.
To further solidify the legacy of the black community in Canada, the Senate introduced the Motion to Recognize Contributions of Black Canadians and February as Black History Month in February 2008.

Black History Month at TMC

We have a growing number of books in the Learning Commons about Canada's black history, as well as a number of books written by authors of colour, with diverse characters. If you ever want to check to see the inclusive materials we have in our collection, you just need to do a search in eLibrary! For the past several years, I have been busy re-cataloguing our collection to include designations such as "diverse content," in addition to adding notations such as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous People of Colour) in the staff notations.

So, here's how to access those titles:

Launch eLibrary from TMC/CBE Quicklinks or click here
  1. Put any genre or title in the Search window (ex. humor)
  2. Select Twelve Mile Coulee in the Library drop-down menu
  3. Search
  4. Scroll down your search results to find Search Again
  5. Remove any genre/title in the Search window so that it is blank
  6. Keep the Library as Twelve Mile Coulee
  7. Scroll to find the Item Cat4 Special: Select "Diverse Content"
  8. Click Search

eLibrary Literature Resources

Twelve Mile Coulee's Learning Commons has an abundance of constantly expanding BIPOC resources in our collection, including the following focusing on black history, particularly that of the migration of black people south of our boarder to parts of Upper Canada and the Maritimes via the Underground Railroad:

Black Canadian Authors

The Calgary Public Library has compiled a list of Black Canadian Authors that we should all add to our reading lists:

Digital Resources

Viola Desmond Won't be Budged by Jody Warner Read Along




#KidsLit4BlackLivesCanada with Sarah Raughley






Government of Canada: Proud of Our History




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