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This Friday, September 29, the Kenora Catholic District School Board will be honouring National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day. While the official day falls on Saturday, September 30, we will take the opportunity on Friday while school is in session to wear our orange shirts and reflect on reconciliation as a school community.
Every Student Gets an Orange Shirt
This year we are pleased to share that each student is being gifted an Orange T-shirt with Kitana Blackhawk’s design on it. We encourage your child to wear their orange T-shirt on Friday, September 29.
Here is What's Happening on Friday
11:00 AM Song and Prayer
Everyone is invited to join us at 11:00 AM for a song and prayer led by Elder Terry Skead in-person in front of the Catholic Education Centre (1292 Heenan Place), or via a Facebook live stream. You will receive an email closer to the date with the link:
https://fb.me/e/y9I8i3tcv. Please note that you do not need to have a Facebook Account to watch the live stream.
St. John Paul II School
The school is hosting a Human Library for students in Grades 1 – 6 with Jyles Copenace from the Kenora Chiefs Advisory.
École Ste-Marguerite Bourgeoys
Classrooms will be creating a land acknowledgement and reflecting on reconciliation.
St. Louis Living Arts School
The school will have orange tulip bulbs for each class to plant for spring blooms.
St. John School
The school will be hosting a school-wide Orange Shirt Day walk to Centennial Park to share in prayer. Orange Rocks and feathers are also being placed outside the school with words that describe how a child should feel when coming to school. ie. safe, loved, comfort, happy
St. Thomas Aquinas High School
St. Thomas Aquinas High School's First Nation, Métis and Inuit Youth Council invites all citizens and business owners in Kenora to dress in orange and stop what they are doing to join them at the intersection of Matheson Street South and First Street South at 10:20 AM for their STOP 4 TRUTH Flash Mob. Students will demonstrate respect, unity and healing in the journey towards Truth and Reconciliation. All are welcome to join.
About our Orange Shirt Day Design
Last year Kenora Catholic partnered with now graduated St. Thomas Aquinas High School student, Kitana Blackhawk, to design a unique logo for Kenora Catholic. The logo (pictured to the right) was designed by Blackhawk in honour of the children who never returned home from the residential school system as well as the survivors and family members who continue to be affected to this day.
“We put shoes around the roundabout so the children who lost their lives could have the shoes they needed to walk towards the spirit world, the Creator’s end of life. I really loved the movement and now that they’re getting justice, I felt it needed more love. So, I added the heart,” said Kitana about her design.