Students from across Tecumseh joined community members Tuesday for an Orange Shirt Day memorial walk, with the event placing a particular focus on the importance of teaching younger generations about the history and legacy of residential schools. The walk at Lakewood Park South was held one day before the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30, a day dedicated to honouring residential school Survivors, the children who never returned home and their families and communities. Patricia Shawnoo, a direct descendant of Chief Tecumseh and the event’s keynote speaker, told participants that the impact of residential schools continues to be felt across generations. She said the residential school system interrupted Anishinabe lifeways, including teachings surrounding family, relationships and the land. “For our people, it’s something that we can’t forget. And we don’t want others to forget,” Shawnoo said. Shawnoo said sharing those truths with students is particularly important because they will carry the lessons into future generations. She said Tecumseh is a historic place where the namesake’s legacy remains visible, adding that he stood up for Indigenous ways of life, the land and water, and for people coming together. “It’s really important because our neighbours and the settlers that have come to this part of the world, they know what has taken place here by foreign governments,” she said. For students attending the walk, the lessons were not limited to what they heard Tuesday. Grade 7 teacher Brent Oneschuk of Beacon Heights Public School said educators incorporate Indigenous history and reconciliation into learning throughout the school year. “Truth and Reconciliation, and looking through the years as we move forward, it’s not just a chapter in the book, and it’s not just one day,” Oneschuk explained. He said lessons can be incorporated through subjects including social studies, geography and history, as well as through reading and learning about local Indigenous communities. “We try to look at the positives of the past. We also look at a lot of the dark things that have happened,” he said. “And hearing the presenter today bring up some of that stuff, it was very profound.” Several students said Tuesday’s event helped them better understand what residential school students experienced. Grade 7 student Izabella Lejkowski said her class has been learning about residential schools and why remembering them each year is important. Fellow student Thomas Dunn said the lessons included learning about Indigenous children being taken to residential schools, where their hair was cut and they experienced abuse. Shawnoo said those lessons can be difficult, but are necessary if young people are going to understand why the day matters. She said she noticed students reacting to examples of what her grandparents and other relatives experienced. “They were so amazed, like, wow,” Shawnoo said. “You have to tell truth. You have to tell truth so that they can connect to it.” Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara said the town has worked in recent years to strengthen its relationships with Kettle Point First Nation and Caldwell First Nation. He said teaching younger generations about the past is an important part of that work. “I think it’s something that should be, in my opinion, in every classroom,” McNamara said. “You can’t change history, but you can make sure that we don’t repeat history.” Shawnoo also encouraged people to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation by doing more than wearing orange. She suggested people attend Indigenous-led community events, listen and learn, and have conversations about the history around their own kitchen tables. “There’s always somebody doing this work somewhere,” she said. “Talk about it at your kitchen table.” The federal government says the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is an opportunity for Canadians to learn, reflect and participate in educational and commemorative activities. Shawnoo will return to Lakewood Park in Tecumseh on Oct. 16 for an event celebrating the relationship between her family and the Town of Tecumseh, a connection rooted in the area’s history and the Three Fires Confederacy. She told CTV News that continuing that relationship is part of carrying knowledge forward for future generations. “Now we’re thinking seven generations ahead, and we’re bringing that together in the best way that we can,” Shawnoo said.
