Muskoday First Nation Community School and Osborne School dance a round dance (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Coming together

Muskoday School welcomes guests for Orange Shirt Day

Oct 1, 2019 | 8:11 AM

Orange Shirt Day at Muskoday First Nations Community School ended in celebration.

Muskoday students and teachers joined hands with their counterparts from Osborne School Monday afternoon in a round dance, accompanied by singing and drums.

“We sent off the students on a really positive note. We celebrated together,” Muskoday teacher Aleyna Morin told paNOW.

The dance closed out a day of cultural teaching and sharing, as Muskoday hosted one hundred students from Osborne School.

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Muskoday Elder Wilfred Bear told paNOW that it was important the children came together to learn from each other.

“You understand both worlds, and in this environment we live in today, we have to understand both worlds. And it’s important that the students know that the residential school legacy lingers on.”

Prince Albert was home to Saskatchewan’s largest residential school which closed in 1996.

As one of Muskoday School’s rotating elders-in-residence, Bear said he sees the intergenerational trauma caused by the institutions in some of the students who come to his office with behavioral problems or issues related to substance abuse.

“It just doesn’t end with the people who went to the school, it affects their families and families down the line, and that’s what people don’t understand. They say ‘oh just get over it’ I’m sorry but what these people went through you just can’t get over,” Bear explained, whose father attended File Hills Indian Residential School and later Brandon Indian Residential School in Manitoba.

He said Orange Shirt Day is a way to teach kids about what happened in those schools, as well an opportunity to show them that no matter where they come from, they’re not that different from each other.

“There’s a lot of misunderstanding. This is a good place to start and the younger they start the better,” he said.

He believed the day would be the beginning of many similar gatherings at Muskoday School.

Students spent Monday doing cultural activities like making drums, mini teepees and hand crafts.

Powwow dancer and Muskoday grade six student, Jyl Sanderson (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW staff)

In the afternoon they gathered for a final assembly which included performances by Muskoday students. Jyl Sanderson, who is in grade six, danced fancy shawl in full regalia.

As Muskoday Powwow Princess, she said she wasn’t nervous performing with a classmate in front of the 200 people in the gym.

“We’re showing them what our culture is,” she explained.

After the performance she quickly changed back into her orange shirt. Sanderson said she wore it “to remember the ones that were in residential schools and the ones that didn’t make it home.”

Osborne student Pailyn Hammond, 8, had a simple answer when asked why it was important to learn about the history of the schools in Canada.

“So that we won’t have to go through that again,” she said.

alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom