Sask. is standing on the wrong side of history: First Nation Chiefs

Saskatchewan is standing on the wrong side of history.

That was the message delivered by several First Nation Chiefs Friday at a press conference hosted by the Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC) addressing a recent incident at the courthouse in Meadow Lake.

Two First Nation employees who wore ‘Every Child Matters’ orange shirts to work on Sept. 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 re-triggering and re-traumatizing for both 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 statutory holiday.

“I’m embarrassed,” Pratt said. “We had the highest amount of residential schools in the entire country, and we have the highest amount of living survivors in the entire country. Yet, we have a premier who can wear an orange shirt but refuses to acknowledge the pain and the suffering of not only our people that have passed, but all of our people that are still sitting in this room.”

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

“It’s not just a symbolic gesture. It represents a critical 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 deliver justice for Indigenous people when it refuses to acknowledge the very history that continues to harm us?”

He said the refusal to allow the employees to wear their orange shirts isn’t just a matter of policy. He called it a ‘clear act of dismissal and disrespect for the truth.’

MLTC Tribal Chief Jeremy Norman thanked the other First Nations leaders and Elders for helping him view 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 how mad he was at the injustice the court employees faced, he was reminded by Elders to move forward by offering to work together with the province.

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

Saskatchewan Party leader Scott Moe was at a Prince Albert Grand Council event marking the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. There he said the idea of turning Sept. 30 into a provincial statutory holiday was part of ongoing conversations but he also pointed out that Saskatchewan already has one of the most amount of statutory holidays in the country.

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

As the provincial election campaign goes on, Pratt hopes all leaders and candidates will consider the 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 that’s something that we’ve got to do and enjoy and recognize, and it’s significant, and that’s part of reconciliation if we’re going to heal.”

If we’re going to move forward collectively, we’re going to heal those relationships amongst one another, not just amongst ourselves, but amongst our nations,” Pratt said.

McCallum added that asking the court employees to change out of their orange shirts was an insult to survivors and their families and every person who is committed to reconciliation.

battlefordsNOW reached out to the Ministry of Justice to ask about dress code guidelines for employees, but in an emailed response was told the ministry is ‘unable to speak to specific government policies or programs during the writ period leading up to the provincial election.’