Children are Sacred: A Fundraising Concert in Recognition of Orange Shirt Day

In honour of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the Faculty of Music at Wilfrid Laurier University, as part of the Music at Noon concert series, presents a virtual concert featuring Indigenous performers, including Barbara Assiginaak, Cara Loft, and Rene Meshake, among others. This concert premieres on September 30, Orange Shirt Day, a day to, in the words of the Orange Shirt Society, “commemorate the residential school experience, to witness and honour the healing journey of the Survivors and their families, and to commit to the ongoing process of reconciliation”. While this day has been recognized for nearly ten years, this year will be especially difficult for Indigenous communities, with the ongoing excavations of unmarked graves at residential schools across Canada. This concert celebrates Indigenous musicians, honours and recognizes the children who were lost, and honours the survivors and their families.

The concert will raise funds for the Woodland Cultural Centre, located near Laurier’s Brantford campus. The Woodland Cultural Centre serves to promote Indigenous history, art, language and culture. The organization is in the midst of restoring the Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School, which operated in Brantford from 1828 to 1970. The residential school assimilated First Nations children from Six Nations, as well as other communities throughout Ontario and Quebec.

Our goal is to raise $5,000 for the Woodland Cultural Centre. Please help us reach our goal!

For non-Indigenous viewers, we make two requests:

1) Educate yourself on Canada’s residential school history and the ongoing traumas of this legacy. We have links to sources here:

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/indigenous-people/aboriginal-peoples-documents/calls_to_action_english2.pdf

https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article/history-of-residential-schools/

https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system/ 

https://www.anishinabek.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/An-Overview-of-the-IRS-System-Booklet.pdf

To learn more about Orange Shirt Day and Phyllis Webstad's story, visit https://www.orangeshirtday.org

2) Donate to the Woodland Cultural Centre. Every dollar helps.