Reconciliation, healing at heart of 4th Orange Shirt Day run and walk in Edmonton

Hundreds of runners came together at Edmonton’s Kinsmen Park on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Monday to honour residential school survivors and remember the Indigenous children who never returned home.

“That’s a way to remember, to bring a light on truth, to fight residential school denialism,” said Anita Cardinal, the Orange Shirt Day race director.

Kinsmen Park was filled with prayers, drumming and a wave of people wearing orange as a symbol of reconciliation.

Among the runners were survivors of residential schools, including Faye Lightning.

“It was a very short time, but I remember my number,” she said. “It was number three. My bed was number three, my underwear number three, it was all marked.”

Lance Scout, an intergenerational survivor of the residential school system because his family members attended residential schools, says being involved in reconciliation has helped him in his long journey of healing.

“I can continue to thrive,” Scout told CityNews. “That’s where I’m at. I could walk and feel comfortable in my red skin. I could feel that I belong.

“Think about it. If a bee stings you, it’s gonna welt for some time, but the more I pick at it and reflect on it, it opens up again.”

Monday marked the fourth annual Orange Shirt Day run and walk. This year, the event raised more than $13,000 in support of Indigenous athletes, local grassroots movements and the Orange Shirt Society.

“I’m here to represent my mother who we didn’t get to hear her story because she passed. I’m here for my daughters,” said Lightning.

Cardinal says the run at Kinsmen Park has doubled in size since it first started in 2020. While she appreciates the support on this day, she says more has to be done.

“It’s not a day that you just come here, wear an orange shirt and leave,” she said. “I think this is a way for us to yes come together as a community to learn to listen and to reflect and to go back to our regular everyday lives and practise that.”

“Reconciliation should be an everyday responsibility and we should be reflecting on the truth every day,” added Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi. “We should be walking the walk and taking actions to reconciliation and building a better city for everyone.”

“More education and trust that everybody wants to learn,” said Lightning. “But we have to share it with kindness and understanding and appreciate the fact that we’re on this great land.”