EMSB students learn that Day for Truth and Reconciliation about more than just wearing an orange shirt – Montreal | The Canadian News

English Montreal School Board students wore orange T-shirts to class on September 30 to mark National Truth and Reconciliation Day, but the celebration didn’t stop there.

Using age-appropriate activities, teachers taught students that the day is much more than just wearing an orange shirt.

“Orange Shirt Day is about remembering all the residential school kids that they lost their culture,” said Maya Magliara, a student at Honoré Mercier Elementary School.

Magliara’s fifth-grade class in Saint-Leonard started the day with a difficult but necessary discussion: learning the truth about how children, close to their age, were treated in residential schools.

“I feel bad for them because some of them were injured and when they returned home, some of them did not even return home,” Magliara said.

In that sense, the students colored orange T-shirts, reflecting on what they can do to help others know that they are important. Although they may be small, all the children were able to understand the seriousness of the situation.

“Usually when we do a subject there are jokes and all that, but when we do this subject it is always very sad,” said student Franco Spinelli.

This is the first year that fifth grade teacher Antonietta Morena has taught her students about missing children and survivors from residential schools. After the anonymous graves were discovered in British Columbia, he decided it was time.

“These children are our future. They are our future leaders, educators, politicians; they need to know the truth, ”he said.

MIND High School students in Plateau have been learning about the past in preparation for September 30th. High school student five, Benjamin Hilbchuk, said they met a mother from the Clan.

“He came to tell us a lot about his culture and it was very, very interesting,” he said.

Then the students designed their own orange t-shirts based on their presentation. They told Global News that T-shirts are a concrete thing they can do to raise awareness, but it is just one step on the road to reconciliation.

“I think it’s very important that wearing these shirts doesn’t become an excuse to quit,” said high school student Felix Antoine Burt.

MIND students say their new awareness will help make positive change for the future.

“It is important for us to teach our parents or grandparents, our future children, our friends, and everyone around us in the communities around us,” said Elysia Mason, a five-year-old high school student.