The colour orange will be seen across our country on September 30th as our nation comes together in the spirit of healing and reconciliation.

Tasina Pope, a Morley community member was honoured to talk and help spread awareness for the orange shirt initiative which started back in 2013. While Pope was not a residential school survivor, herself; her grandmother, Una Wesley, the first Female Chief in Morley was, along with many other family members on both her maternal and paternal side.

Raising awareness of the Indigenous residential school system and its survivors is something Pope is extremely passionate about. "The conclusion is we did go through something heavy and traumatizing in Canadian history. The truth is our survivors have gone through the effects from residential school, where it's now intergenerational. It  just doesn't affect the person themselves, it is now affecting the family, the community, and so forth."

Pope shares with a long list of family members who were subjected to the abuse within the residential school system, she sees firsthand the damage it has done. "I know many of my family members weren't able to connect with the younger people so, in turn, I feel it has really stripped away some culture and tradition. I really feel this initiative for the Orange Shirt Day is a great way to connect families with other Indigenous families who share a similar history; we need a place to start."

Believing this could be a first step in creating a more healthy and productive path, Pope, knows it will take time for the initiative to gain nationwide support. "It will take time as there are so many negative effects from the residential schools but it is up to us to decide how we can be more inclusive and more hospitable...this is just the tipping point."

Pope is quite happy to see more positive relationships being formed between the Stony Nakoda Nation, Town of Cochrane, and the Bow Valley region residents and feels the support shown will only grow and foster better relations."It's a starting point and I hope there are more opportunities to develop something bigger and better. I know we are just trying to bridge relationships but it has to start somewhere."

The last message from Pope sums it all up. "A simple t-shirt could connect many Canadians and create more empathy towards Indigenous people. This is a very symbolic symbol but I hope it can create more connections and opportunities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people here in Canada. With education, people will be more aware of what allyship is. It will take time before we really feel we're in a safe place and where we can be neighbours to each other, but it's a great start."

Although September 30th is the recognized Orange Shirt Day many people will be wearing them through the weekend and into early next week.