Alethea Greyeyes wants everyone to add a new word to their lexicon: RunConciliAction.
It means taking action toward reconciliation by running — and it’s something she encourages everyone to do to honour the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30.
Greyeyes, a runner from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, is organizing an Orange Shirt Day Run/Walk in Saskatoon that day to honour those who attended residential schools.
Orange Shirt Day was founded by Phyllis Webstad, a member of the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation, who went to residential school in British Columbia in the 1970s. On her first day of school, staff took away her clothes, including the new orange shirt her granny had bought her.
“The colour orange has always reminded me of that and how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and how I felt like I was worth nothing. All of us little children were crying and no one cared,” Webstad recalled.
Today, people wear orange on Sept. 30 to remember the harm done by the residential school system and visibly support reconciliation.
“Phyllis drove this movement of really celebrating and recognizing that it’s beneficial for our communities — Indigenous and non Indigenous — to support the initiatives behind the Orange Shirt Society to create a vehicle for anybody to learn about what it meant to be a young person in residential school,” Greyeyes says. “Once people learn and they’re aware, you can move forward.”
Here’s what you need to know about the event.
What: Saskatoon’s Orange Shirt Day Run/Walk includes 5km and 10km distances plus a 2.15km route for elders and children.
While this is the first Orange Shirt Day Run/Walk in Saskatoon, similar events have happened elsewhere and Greyeyes has attended the last two in-person events in Edmonton. Those have been “heart-bursting,” Greyeyes says. “There’s vibrational energy that comes from so much positivity and people being in the group.”
All participants will receive a hand-carved wooden feather medal and orange shirt.
Where: All distances start and end in Rotary Park, with run/walks taking place on the Meewasin Trail.
When: Package pickup, last-minute on-site registration and other activities including a round dance start Mon. Sept. 30 at noon. The first run/walk event, the 2.15km for elders and kids, sets off at 2 p.m. The 10km starts at 2:45 p.m. followed by the 5km at 2:55 p.m.
Who: This is an event for everyone, whether they think of themselves as a runner or not. “I want kokums and their grandchildren. I want businesses and nonprofit organizations to show up. I just want everybody showing up for each other,” Greyeyes says.
Why: The event gives participants an avenue to participate in RunConciliAction. All proceeds raised go toward the Orange Shirt Society, which works to raise awareness about the legacy of residential schools and their continuing impacts on individuals, families and communities.
How to sign up: Register online via Race Roster. Cost of registration is $20 for the 2.15km, $35 for the 5km and $50 for the 10km. On-site registration will also be available on Sept. 30 if space allows (the event is capped at 300 participants).
