September 30, marks Canada’s National Day for Truth & Reconciliation, and Orange Shirt Day.

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Orange Shirt Day began in Williams Lake on September 30, 2013, inspired by Phyllis Webstad’s story of having her brand new orange shirt taken away from her on her first day of “Indian residential school”. 

 

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was established as a federal statutory holiday in 2021 and BC provincial stat holiday in 2023, to be commemorated each year on September 30 (the same day as Orange Shirt Day), to recognize Indian Residential School Survivors, their families, and communities, while ensuring the history and legacy of residential schools are publicly remembered. 

 

Public commemoration of this tragic chapter in Canada’s history plays an essential role in advancing truth and reconciliation, providing an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the intergenerational effects of residential schools and to reflect on their enduring legacy as part of our ongoing journey toward truth, healing, and reconciliation.

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So on September 30, we wear orange in honour of the Survivors and their families, and in remembrance of the children who never returned home. The orange shirt symbolizes the loss of culture, freedom, and personhood that many Indigenous children experienced. EVERY child matters.

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At Ladner Baptist Church, we are honouring National Day for Truth and Reconciliation by offering a land acknowledgement. We may have become used to hearing land acknowledgements at the beginning of public gatherings like concerts, theatre productions, assemblies, and meetings. Instead of being tempted to tune out, waiting to get on with the “real reason we’re here”, let’s take these acknowledgements as a wake-up call: there is a history and a present to this land that we might not be aware of. Let’s take the words as a call to action: where and how can I learn more? And let’s take them as a call to reflection: what does this mean for how I behave, whom I consider and respect, and how I may do better?

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So today we publicly acknowledge and appreciate that we live, work, and gather for worship on the traditional and treaty lands of Tsawwassen First Nation. In 2007—just 19 years ago—Tsawwassen First Nation, the Government of Canada, and the Province of British Columbia made an historic treaty. Some of us live on this treaty land, while the rest of us, including Point Roberts residents, live on Tsawwassen’s traditional territory. Tsawwassen First Nation continues to exercise certain rights such as for hunting and fishing, on their traditional territory which is approximately 10,000 square kilometers of the south-west quadrant of the Lower Mainland and Salish Sea. 

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Indigenous peoples have a deep, historical, and ongoing relationship with the land, marine life, and watersheds of this entire area. Acknowledging the gift of this land from the Creator, Tsawwassen and Musqueam Nations have stewarded these lands for thousands of years. 

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We are thankful to the Creator for this land. May we respect this treasured land, honour the first nations who now share it with us, and may we welcome and respect all who call it home.