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I'm sitting in class, and my teacher is shuffling through a Truth and Reconciliation PowerPoint presentation. She is clearly rushing, and although she is perhaps making an effort to absorb 50% of information messily thrown onto the screen, the rest of the class clearly isn't. From how the ground acknowledgements are muttered on the announcements each day, to how many orange shirts actually show up on Orange Shirt Day, it is an understatement to say that the system has failed us again.
It is sad enough that such government mandated, quickly-thrown-together presentations must be played in every classroom during the week of Truth and Reconciliation—an opportunity to raise actual awareness and passion in Indigenous issues. What is much more devastating, however, is the lack of effort, care, and genuine passion put into teaching such an important part of Canadian society: why is it a white woman, uneducated in Indigenous communities, the one teaching students about issues they themselves don't understand. We agree that there exists brilliant teachers who are able to bring out a sense of passion in the room when discussing the hardships of Indigenous peoples, but we do not believe that the system in and of itself is doing enough; it might actually be doing worse.
The key reason why these presentations aren’t effective, is because they don't show us what it means to be Indigenous. They do not explain how poorly funded the education and healthcare systems in Indigenous communities are; they do not tell us that the rate for missing and murdered Indigenous women is more than quadruple that of other races; they never illustrate the intergenerational trauma and anguish that still prevails from losing fellow brothers and sisters to residential school. These presentations never provide the full truth, and although I may also not fully understand how these issues feel, Orange for Change believes we should not throw away the opportunity to make real Indigenous voices heard.
At Orange for Change, we want to inspire our communities to mirror the burning passion for Indigenous reconciliation that we have. We want to actually be able to pay amends in tangible ways, and we will do such through jewelry.
A bracelet is a very valuable thing. They may not perhaps be made of gold and silver, but it is the stories that they hold, the causes they fund, and the raging passion behind each delicately crafted art which makes them so special. It is their contributions as a sign of advocacy, of union in our local communities, of sentiment for those lives that were lost, and of representation for those that continue to stand, that allows them to foster true change and justice for Indigenous communities in Canada. But also, who doesn't love a bracelet? By combining a product many students and adults buy into with a clear, impactful message, OFC hopes to take baby steps of progress; spreading the word, generating interest, and finally, using these baby steps to find a path towards systematic change.
100% of our proceeds from our bracelets goes towards funding Truth and Reconciliation advocacy, as well as to underfunded Indigenous public schools. Orange for Change hopes that with our future ‘classroom shares’, where classrooms around Ontario can hear accurate stories from actual Indigenous figures, along with our interviews (found right here on our website), our communities will be able to reflect our passions for justice. Through our little moments of change, we at Orange for Change are confident that, by working together, we can accumulate large-scale reconciliation.