My Name Is Seepeetza

This morning when I was thinking of what to post for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, My Name Is Seepeetza came to mind. I found my copy and took photos of the cover and the Dedication. 
Seepeetza was a good friend and colleague, a really wonderful woman from the Nlaka'pamux Nation. She taught First Nations studies in the program I worked for. We became grandmas around the same time and shared many stories about our interactions with our grandkids. She also shared her experiences as a student at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, and the book is based on those experiences. When Seepeetza passed away, G and I went to her funeral in the traditional territory where she came from, and it was one of the most moving experiences of our lives. 
Coincidentally, I read on the CBC website this afternoon that My Name is Seepeetza was reissued to commemorate the 30th anniversary of its publication in 1992. I'm including a link to the article. The cover is different from the cover on my copy.
September 30 is now a national holiday to honour the children who never came home from residential schools, the survivors of residential schools and their families and communities. It's also Orange Shirt Day, and all are encouraged to wear orange shirts.  "Orange Shirt Day is an Indigenous-led grassroots commemorative day intended to raise awareness of the individual, family and community inter-generational impacts of residential schools, and to promote the concept of  'Every Child Matters'.  The orange shirt is a symbol of the stripping away of culture, freedom and self-esteem experienced by Indigenous children over generations." ( quote from this website). It was good to see quite a few people in town wearing orange today. Both G and I did. 
The Kamloops Indian Residential School that Seepeetza attended is the site where the first graves of students who did not return home were found in 2021. It's encouraging that more non-Indigenous people in Canada are becoming more aware of the terrible experiences many Indigenous children had at residential schools and the inter-generational effects on families today. It's sad that it took the discovery of graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School and other residential schools sites across Canada to raise awareness of the history.
I'm including an extra of the Dedication in Seepeetza's book. I shed some tears and heard her quiet, gentle voice saying those words as I reread them. Who better to write those words than a residential school survivor? The book that could definitely be used in elementary grades to give young ones an insight into life at a residential school and to encourage discussions about colonialism and racism. 
Tomorrow I'll write about the events to recognize National Day for Truth and Reconciliation that were held at Kalyn's volleyball match last night. The team won the match in four sets.