Every Child Matters bear and sacred fire offer an opportunity to honour, understand, and pray
Friday is National Truth and Reconciliation Day, also known as Orange Shirt Day. Public schools, Mount Allison University, and all government offices will be closed to mark the day.
At Fort Folly First Nation, knowledge keeper & Mi’kmaq cultural coordinator Nicole Porter has put together an opportunity for area residents to learn about Truth and Reconciliation, and to honour the Indigenous children who suffered and even died in Canada’s residential schools.
Porter says she has long admired the hay bale bears put together by Matt Beal, of High Tide Homestead and Cattle Company. Porter says she thought to herself, “wouldn’t it be nice if we could have something like that, a big teddy bear, to honour the children that went to residential school, but they never made it home?”
Porter approached Beal, and the result is sitting near the Gitpu Gas Station at Cherry Burton Road and the 106: the Every Child Matters Bear.
Hear Nicole Porter talking about the bear on CHMA’s Tantramar Report:
About three large bales tall, the bear is wearing an orange shirt with the words “Every Child Matters” written on the front. Porter says the bear is an opportunity honour and cherish the children lost to the residential school system, and to raise awareness of a history that is still being learned and understood by Canadians.… Continue