Column: Orange shirts need to be respected 

We’ve used the term “Every Child Matters” in different contexts in The Eastern Door, and I wanted to talk a little bit more about it in what is the freest form of journalism - my own column.

We’ve used it in various forms because it’s a powerful phrase that sends a clear message of hope and a brighter future, one that inherently means protecting the ones who need it most, no matter who they are.

And that’s what we do as a newspaper. Share stories and give hope - and some hell, when needed.

Sadly, it has become open to criticism by those who don’t understand it, or who refuse to empathize with a population that is still dealing with the effects of residential school brought on by colonialism.

Used properly, the term Every Child Matters is straightforward. You know what it means, you know it’s about our kids and where it originates from, and you stand behind that powerful message and images of what was originally called Orange Shirt Day, every year on September 30.
But on the flip side, some don’t believe our suffering and feel the need to tell us to “get over it,” and have now coopted the orange shirts with ridiculous messages like “Where are the bodies?” and “There are no bodies.”

References to the 215 graves that were first discovered in Kamloops, BC.

This crap, on a day we are all in mourning, with fewer residential school survivors each year to draw wisdom and courage from.

It shows how much more work we must do, and frankly, it shows how poor of a job the education system has done in this country.

As a journalist, it’s part of a much larger story, but as a dad, it pisses me off knowing what little empathy exists for my kids, who are expected to grow up so fast in a world I don’t recognize at times.

There will always be ignorant, racist fools who want to needle us no matter what, unable to have sympathy because, you know, stealing our land and putting us on hopeless reserves wasn’t enough. They want our dignity too, and they want to correct history with falsities, so they look that much better. They don’t want to hear from us because it makes them feel bad, somewhere deep down in those dark souls.

The thing is we’ve been through the shit, we’re certainly not going away, and we have many ways to teach the truth on multiple platforms at our disposal. We can play their game too, but with facts as our ally, and our truth as our superpower.

With social cesspool media, the ones spouting this crap are answered back in real-time, making it more difficult to spread their hateful message without reproach, but it is still way too easy - and accepted - to put this shit out there, especially on something as mainstream and available as Twitter (or X).

As a father of two small kids, I shudder to think of the kind of world they will inherit, one where politicians like Donald Trump make it acceptable to their rabid right-wing religious base to make fun of trans folks, gays, the disabled, women and minorities, to “win” at all costs, devoid of any real message of positive change.

But he’ll tell you he’s done more for the whole world than anyone in history, and his base eats it up because they’re more closely related to the ones who use Every Child Matters as a negative to attack us rather than an opportunity to shut up and learn.

It has become vogue to harass anyone with an opinion different from yours, and it has become so very normal to try to destroy their lives and businesses when they make mistakes, with little room for error, apology or a redo of any kind.

Whoever is elected next month, the US is a prime example of the filth and negativity that is so pervasive because of dirty politics, left vs. right, pro-life vs. pro-choice, too many guns vs. not enough personal accountability, truth vs. misinformation, a staunch, rigid agenda over the people’s rights.

And Canada isn’t that much different, with the rise of extremism in this country everyone must deal with it.

Show us the proof they will say, and when we dig up the graves and do proper ceremony, they will find another reason to attack, to discredit, to say it was all a hoax. And that we should move on.

It’s an uphill battle and social media has shown us just how deep the rabbit hole goes, but with all these fake accounts across every platform, we often wonder just how many of them are truly unique users continually attempting to break us down, and what percentage are bots or trolls using multiple accounts, who have nothing better to do than farm hate.

There’s big money in negativity these days, so people like Elon Musk have monetized it for all to capitalize on bullshit he supports.

Our children will be better versed in all this ugliness than we were, a generation that grew up climbing trees vs. one of social media darkness, and it will all be normal to them, so maybe that’s an advantage.

But it’s still scary because one day I won’t be there for our little ones, and I just hope they’ll be able to defend themselves well with the strength of our ancestors, the Native pride they grew up with, and the truth of their Onkwehón:we history on their side.

Every child matters because, well, every child does matter. And that’s something worth fighting for every single day.