Highlights from Orange Shirt Day Celebrations 2021

This year’s Orange Shirt Day Celebrations was one to remember. Coinciding with the first ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, these special events brought so many together to honour the experiences of Residential School Survivors, celebrate local Indigenous culture and discuss the essential roles of care and kinship.

From musical performances to storytelling, our Orange Shirt Day Celebrations were full of moments for reflection, joy and looking forward to how we can continue to learn and take action. Day two featured a panel discussion called Expanding Our Relations: Oral concepts of understanding. The stories our panelists shared impressed on us that Truth and Reconciliation goes beyond Orange Shirt Day. It is an ongoing, everyday process. You can watch the full video here.

Although it’s difficult to capture our Orange Shirt Day in just a few words, here are some of our favourite moments:

Orange Shirt Day Celebrations - Day 1

Trellis Indigenous Initiatives Director Christy Morgan opens our Orange Shirt Day Celebrations with a warm welcome and shares the importance of reconciliation and taking time to acknowledge where we are in history.

“Together we are all treaty people here in Calgary.”
Henri Giroux from the Calgary Public Library teaches us a special interactive land acknowledgment.
The Treaty 7 land acknowledgment is a way of recognizing the history of the lands in southern Alberta and honouring the original caretakers of the land.

This year’s orange shirt was designed by Shayne Hommy, a grade 11 First Nation Cree student. Shayne’s design depicts “three little Indigenous girls from different tribes, holding hands to represent the unity of our people (Indigenous peoples), resilience and strength throughout the many years of suffering Indigenous peoples had to face.”

Award-winning comedian-puppeteer DeRic Starlight from TsuuT’ina Nation shares about Indigenous culture through story and song. The room fills with music and laughter as DerRic and Bannock Monster (and Christy!) perform the catchy tune, “B is for Bannock”.

DerRic Starlight introduces one of his most popular and hilarious puppets, Granny, and invites the audience to sing along to a fun song about fry bread.

Nearing the end of the day, Kainai First Nations member Crystal Many Fingers reads to us from her book “A'pistotooki kii Ihkitsik Kaawa'pomaahkaa: Creator and the Seven Animals, why we are here”. This is a traditional tale about animals, their gifts and why they were put on earth. You can find Crystal’s book at the Calgary Public Library.

Orange Shirt Day Celebrations: Day 2

The theme for this year’s Orange Shirt Day is around kinship and care, recognizing the disruptive impact residential schools had on families and communities. To promote an open dialogue on how to incorporate kinship and care into all aspects of everyday life, we held a panel discussion featuring perspectives from an Elder, a non-Indigenous ally, a frontline human services worker and a parent.
Left to right: Janet Naclia (Alberta Recreation and Parks Association), Paige Yellowhorn (former family strategist with Trellis), Rochelle Bare Shin Bone (Sustainable Families participant and granddaughter of the first elected Blood Reserve chief), Elder Jackie Bromley, James Guthrie (Imperial Oil).

Our CEO Jeff Dyer joins a handful of others in the room as they listen closely to insights around what kinship and care looks like in all areas of life.

Circle Keeper Ezra McKay wears their hand-made ribbon skirt to honour the day.

As a non-Indigenous parent, James Guthrie’s advice for his children on being agents of change is to not stay silent on issues.
“It wasn't their generation that caused those events to happen but that's not really the point of focus. If something's not right, speak up against it.”

How do we encourage our young people to rebuild and reclaim their culture?
For Paige Yellowhorn, a mother of three, it means going back to the beginning. “There's so many of us that are lost and do not know who we are or where we come from,” she says. But, they can rebuild their pride as Indigenous people by learning their history and culture as well as reclaiming their spirituality.

Elder Jackie Bromley defines care and parenting as a selfless act that never ends. She believes that in showing her children “love, respect, kindness, and honouring them in a way that creator made them” she is being the best parent she can be.

When asked, “What does reconciliation mean to you?” responses included genuine relationship building, setting aside differences to come together as a family and spreading stories about beauty. As a residential school survivor, Elder Jackie Bromley emphasizes the importance of telling their story and having a balanced understanding of the past. It was also added that reconciliation is not enough. There needs to be truth and action.

Thank you to our supporters, speakers and leadership team members who attended in-person!
Left to right: Jeff Dyer (Trellis CEO), Mike Manz (TC Energy), Janet Naclia, Paige Yellowhorn, Rochelle Bare Shin Bone, Ellen Close (Horizon Housing), Christy Morgan (Trellis Director of Indigenous Initiatives ), Patti Dolan (Raymond James), Angela Clarke (Trellis Chief Strategy Officer)

Photos by Blake McLeod

Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who participated and supported this year’s celebrations!

We would like to extend a special thank you to our generous sponsors who made this event possible:

TC Energy

Imperial Oil

Mission Wealth Raymond James

Arc Resources

Calgary Foundation

Horizon Housing

We are also very grateful for the support of our Orange Shirt Day T-Shirt sales, which went towards our Iiyika'kimaat youth program. Orange Shirt Society, Moonstone Creations, the Calgary Farmer's Market and the Aboriginal Friendship Society of Calgary all made a huge difference by helping to deliver hundreds of orange shirts, connecting people with us for sales and providing space where we could share about our initiatives.

Finally, thank you to all of our guest speakers for sharing their gifts, teachings, lived experiences and insights:

Elder Jackie Bromley 

Crystal Many Fingers 

DeRic Starlight 

Henri Giroux 

James Guthrie 

Janet Naclia 

Paige Yellowhorn 

Rochelle Bare Shin Bone

Our team members are wearing orange this week in recognition of #OrangeShirtDay. As they show their support by sharing their photos, we in turn will be donating to @TrellisYYC's Iiyika’kimaat Program that encourages a youth’s sense of belonging and inclusion. pic.twitter.com/fewDWtEDmr

— ENMAX (@ENMAX) September 30, 2021

Really appreciate hearing on the @TrellisYYC #OrangeShirtDay2021 event the importance of hearing stories about the beauty in #Indigenous communities. Stories are powerful & we should celebrate beauty, goodness & resilience as part of #TruthAndReconciliation efforts

— Jeff Loomis (@loomisyyc) September 30, 2021

Thank you @TrellisYYC for hosting a wonderful conversation today for #OrangeShirtDay2021 We at @CFS_Calgary so appreciate the opportunity to learn together and are grateful for your leadership.

— Jessica Cope Williams (@jessica_yyc) September 30, 2021

Thank you @trellis for an inspiring conversation about #reconcillation pic.twitter.com/66KyOmvy6r

— Patti B. Dolan, CIM® (@PattiBDolan) September 30, 2021

Thank you @TrellisYYC for the opportunity to reflect, listen and learn together on our first #NationalDayforTruthandReconciliation https://t.co/iWLMDcxNSd

— Jonathan Love (@JLoveNotes) October 1, 2021

So grateful to participate online at @TrellisYYC #orangeshirtday2021 and learn about kinship, care, and truly hearing. Thank you for hosting and creating a space of learning and reflection. Reconciliation is every day.

— Susan Herman (@susan_her) October 1, 2021