Orange Shirt Day asks more of us than a shirt

Today, orange shirts fill Langley's schools, offices, and sidewalks. They carry a simple message: every child matters.

It began with one child. In 1973, six-year-old Phyllis Webstad arrived at St. Joseph's Mission residential school near Williams Lake. She wore a new orange shirt her grandmother bought her. Staff took it away. She never got it back.

Her story became a movement. Since 2021, September 30 has also been the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It answers Call to Action 80 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation has documented more than 4,000 children who died in the system.

Truth comes first

Langley sits on the unceded territories of the q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen), Katzie, Matsqui, and Semiahmoo First Nations. This history is not distant. Survivors and their families are our neighbours.

Truth is hard to hold. Canada heard thousands of hours of Survivor testimony.

A shirt is a start. It is not the finish line.

Ground is slipping

That matters this year, because reconciliation is under pressure in B.C.

Last year, two B.C. court rulings sided with First Nations. One recognized Cowichan Tribes' Aboriginal title on land along the Fraser River in Richmond. Another found the province's mineral claims system inconsistent with the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA).

A backlash followed, with the BC Conservatives and other critics calling for DRIPA's repeal. The law passed the legislature unanimously in 2019.

Victoria has wobbled too. In April, Premier David Eby announced plans to suspend key parts of DRIPA for up to three years. He backed down after strong pushback from First Nations leaders. Both Victoria and Ottawa have also passed laws to fast-track major projects, raising fears that consultation gets squeezed.

Now Langley-Abbotsford MLA Harman Bhangu has Elections BC approval for a petition to repeal DRIPA outright. Canvassing opens October 26.

These are not abstract debates. They decide whether First Nations have a real voice over their own lands, or only a ceremonial one.

Carry it to the ballot box

Langley votes twice this month. Municipal elections are on October 17, and the provincial election follows on October 24.

Wear the shirt today. Then carry its lessons to candidate forums, to the conversations at your front door, and to the polls.

Ask provincial candidates if they will defend DRIPA or weaken it. Ask where they stand on the repeal petition. Ask what free, prior, and informed consent means to them.

Ask local candidates how they will build real relationships with Kwantlen and neighbouring Nations. Ask how those Nations will shape land-use decisions. Ask which Calls to Action their slates or parties have actually acted on.

The darkest chapters of our history were written by ordinary institutions making ordinary choices. The path forward is built the same way.

Every child matters. So does every vote.

References

• Elections BC allows petition bid for Indigenous law's repeal to proceed (CTV News / Canadian Press)
• Elections BC approves petition targeting DRIPA repeal (Business Examiner)
• B.C. mulls plan to weaken DRIPA, in secret document shared with First Nations leaders (CFJC Today / Canadian Press)
• The DRIPA elephant in the room (Ng Ariss)
• Premier David Eby calls snap election (CFJC Today)
• B.C. will vote twice this October as Premier David Eby triggers snap election (Daily Hive)
• The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth, The Red Nation (2021)