Sherbourne Health Honours National Day of Truth And Reconciliation With Indigenous Collaborations

Orange shirts are a significant part of honouring this day. Originally started as Orange Shirt Day by Phyllis Webstad, the shirt is a symbol of the inhumane treatment Phyllis and others experienced in residential schools.

Our WINK program partnered with Indigenous tattoo designer Ameena Buchanan to create a poignant orange shirt design. Ameena is an Anishinaabe artist who focuses on designing and tattooing Indigenous art, bringing her talent and sensitivity to the service of Indigenous communities. Through her work, she aims to honor traditions and contribute to the preservation and celebration of culture, creating designs that are both personal and deeply symbolic.

Every aspect of this collaboration is a tribute made with care:

• Growing florals symbolize the stolen lives of Indigenous children through the residential school system and are a reminder of connection to Mother Earth.
  
• Strawberries, in many Indigenous cultural traditions across Turtle Island, represent the heart. Their presence here speaks to the love for Indigenous children who have been lost, and for what was taken from them and Indigenous culture as a whole. The strawberries also represent Indigenous women, Two Spirit people, and girls who continue to go missing, who deserve justice and to be brought home.
  
• Central to the design is the phrase “Gichi-apiitendaagoziwag gakina abinoojiiyag.” This is “Every Child Matters” written in Anishinaabemowin, the Ojibwe language, translated by the artist’s mother. 

Education is essential for health care providers who are committed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action in the healthcare system. Throughout September, staff used an online hub to centralize resources they found useful in their practices and daily lives. Some of these resources include:

• Food is Our Medicine, a free virtual course for health care professionals interested in understanding how food and reconciliation intertwine
• Inendi, a CBC documentary on intergenerational knowledge with a residential school survivor and her family
• Educational opportunities from Ontario Health

Knowledge-sharing culminated in an organization-wide presentation, led by guest speaker Quill Christie-Peters. Quill is an Anishinaabe educator and self-taught visual artist. Her workshop covering the basics of settler colonialism on Turtle Island, with a focus on the implications for reconciliation in the contemporary era. The focus is to provide an introduction to engaging with the legacy of residential schools, as well as the basic mechanisms of colonialism and how they might impact Indigenous folks accessing health care.