Metro Vancouver mom shocked by preschool's Orange Shirt Day "craft"

Oct 1 2022, 5:21 pm

An Indigenous parent in BC was shocked when she picked up her child from daycare and saw their craft they made for Orange Shirt Day.

“I just picked my son up from preschool, and they had to wear orange today because they are closed on Friday,” said Sam, a Metro Vancouver mom in her now-viral TikTok posted Thursday. “And this is what all the kids came marching out wearing. This was their craft for Truth and Reconciliation day. A headdress.”

@sandkcollective

there are no words….

♬ original sound – S and K Collective

“I was in shock and disbelief,” the parent told Daily Hive. “I didn’t believe my eyes as I was walking up to the school. I felt it’s perpetuating this stereotype for a new generation.”

Sam confirmed that she spoke with the teacher, who apologized and asked how to do better. Daily Hive reached out to a worker at the preschool and will update this story.

Friday was just the second-ever Truth and Reconciliation Day in Canada, and for her part, this parent thinks that so far, it’s missing the point.

“I don’t think it’s going well,” Sam said. “A lot of people call it a holiday. It is not.”

Sam, who is Lytton First Nations, owns S & K Collective, a small shop in Port Coquitlam that sells clothing, jewellery, and accessories.

 

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“I make clothing for awareness, and a lot of times I get a ridiculous amount of last minutes requests for shirts as performative and no true understanding for the day,” she said.

In the future, Sam hopes that Truth and Reconciliation day becomes “a day to remember what truly happened to our people, for it to be talked about.”

“Don’t call it a holiday and ask to celebrate it,” she said. “It should be discussed year round, not just a day. Amplify Indigenous voices, support Indigenous creators and businesses.”

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