Saskatchewan. is on the wrong side of history: First Nations leaders

Saskatchewan is on the wrong side of history.

That’s the message delivered Friday by several First Nations chiefs during a press conference organized by the Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC) regarding a recent incident at the Meadow Lake courthouse.

Two First Nations employees who wore orange “Every Child Counts” shirts to work on September 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, were asked to go home and change.

Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) vice chief David Pratt said the incident was retriggered and retraumatized for the two employees. — one of whom is a second-generation residential school survivor. Now he and other leaders are calling on the province to recognize NDTR/Orange Shirt Day as a provincial holiday.

“I’m embarrassed,” Pratt said. “We had the most residential schools in the country, and we have the most living survivors in the country. Yet we have a Prime Minister who can wear an orange shirt, but who refuses to acknowledge the pain and suffering not only of our fallen citizens, but of all our fellow citizens who are still sitting in this room.

FSIN Fourth Vice Chief Craig McCallum joined Pratt at the MLTC press conference. He said it was unacceptable that the provincial justice system — a system that he believes exists to serve fairness, truth and equality — refuses to recognize the importance of Orange Shirt Day.

“It’s not just a symbolic gesture. This represents a crucial commitment to reconciliation and confronting Canada’s dark history. What message are we sending when people are denied the right to support this cause,” McCallum said. “How can we expect a system to provide justice for Indigenous peoples if it refuses to acknowledge the very history that continues to harm us?

He said the refusal to allow employees to wear their orange shirts was not just a matter of policy. He called it a “clear act of rejection and disrespect for the truth.”

MLTC Tribal Chief Jeremy Norman thanked other First Nations leaders and elders for helping him see the incident from a different perspective. Growing up in Meadow Lake, he said fighting was his way of dealing with being treated differently, but it wasn’t the right way. So instead of spending his time at the conference podium talking about his anger at the injustice faced by court employees, the Elders reminded him to move forward by offering to work with the province.

“We need to sit down, educate more and work together. I think the school systems are doing a good job — but in court — for your own employees in your court system to be sent home…what does that show to our people coming through the system who are not employees? asked Norman. “The province of Saskatchewan — we need to make this place better for our children.

Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe was at a Prince Albert Grand Council event marking National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. He said the idea of ​​making Sept. 30 a provincial holiday was part of ongoing discussions, but he also pointed out that Saskatchewan already has one of the largest holidays in the country.

He said a few days later that he was open to changes such as those made several years ago for Remembrance Day, allowing those who wanted to wear a poppy where they previously could not.

As the provincial election campaign continues, Pratt hopes all leaders and candidates consider this change.

“They’ll have another day off to go to the barbecue and do whatever they have to do, like the rest of us, but it’s something that we have to do and appreciate and recognize, and that’s important, and it is part of reconciliation if we want to heal.

If we are going to move forward collectively, we are going to heal these relationships between us, not just between us, but between our nations,” Pratt said.

McCallum added that asking court employees to remove their orange shirts was an insult to survivors, their families and anyone engaged in reconciliation.

BattlefordsNOW contacted the Department of Justice to ask what the dress code guidelines are for employees, but in an emailed response was informed that the department was “unable to talk about policies or specific government programs during the electoral period preceding the provincial elections.