Orange Day Burns Bright Across Canada

By Doug George-Kanentiio.

The color orange represents the ongoing struggle by indigenous residential school survivors to identify the missing children, locate their burial sites, determine how they died and reunite them with their respective families.

Only when we have precise facts can we move ahead to bringing criminal charges against the institutions which administered the 150 schools and failed to prevent the blatant and ongoing abuse of the children under their care.

To date very few of the abusers have been brought to justice. There can be no lasting peace or reconciliation until this is done. But determining cause of death must also be a joint concern of the medical examiners, forensic anthropologists, police and Native governments.

On September 5 former Mohawk Council of Akwesasne Chief of Police Jerry Swamp was a speaker on a panel of Native officers who emphasized their commitment to the process of investigating the residential school grounds and using all of their skills to locating burial sites. He was at the fourth National Residential School Conference on Unmarked Graves and his remarks were well received by the delegates.

As the survivors noted the police are the first ones contacted once a burial site is identified then protected as a crime scene. The example of the Six Nations Police was mentioned as one instance when the team concept has been effective.

At Akwesasne the residential school survivors have created the Akwesasronon Shonatateron to oversee the research into the missing children. It has met with the St. Regis Tribal Council and Mohawk Council to secure the support of both entities. Among its priorities is the securing of technical equipment to locate the burial sites (at the schools and on the territory), to train its staff to use the devices, to prepare a comprehensive list as to every child taken, to locate the children and to return them home. It was also consult with medical examiners to connect the children with their families and arrange for them to come home.

The group, of which I am a part, will also secure land for reburials, construct a national memorial

to mark this tragic episode in Mohawk history and to build a permanent office to house records, serve as a gathering place for the estimated 70 living survivors where their stories may be forever preserved.

Our group will also meet with officials in Cornwall and wherever the children were taken as “orphans” or “foster care” victims. On September 30 a very large, supportive gathering took place at Lamoureux Park in Cornwall, wearing orange shirts, to express their concern about this part of our collective history.

The Akwesasne Shonatatenron had its director Rick Oakes summarize the organization with the Akwesasne Freedom School opening the day. My remarks noted that the Mohawks of Akwesasne have a reputation of defiance and most of what we have-culture, language, economy-is based on our refusal to be broken by the schools and led by those of us who fought back.

The Shonatatenron is also planning direct action such as painting the last bridge piers in Cornwall the color orange and to go to the area’s schools to make formal presentations. Meetings are being scheduled with the residents of Kahnawake, Tyendinaga and Kanesatake to create consensus on this issue.