All five Kwantlen Polytechnic University campuses will be lit up in orange this week to demonstrate the university’s commitment to reconciliation and honour Indigenous Peoples ahead of the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.
“It is important for us who are uninvited settlers in this land to recognize the profound and unacknowledged loss of life and culture and ways of being as a result of colonization, especially the thousands of lives of the missing residential school children,” says Dr. Alan Davis, president of KPU. “Lighting our campuses orange is a display of solidarity with Indigenous communities, and allows us to reflect on what truth and reconciliation means.”
Orange lights began reflecting on buildings at KPU campuses Monday in Surrey, Richmond and Langley, continuing throughout the week each evening after sundown. Sept. 30 marks the second annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, honouring the lost children and survivors of residential schools, their families and communities.
It is also Orange Shirt Day, an Indigenous-led effort that raises awareness of the impacts of residential schools and promotes the concept of “Every Child Matters.”
KPU will be observing this as a statutory day for remembrance, reflection, action and learning, and campuses will be closed. A list of external events to help students and staff on their path to truth and reconciliation is available on the KPU website.
“We encourage the KPU community to use this time to reflect on, to commemorate and to acknowledge the tragic and painful history, ongoing impact, and continuing trauma of Canada’s residential school legacy. And to consider what each of us can do to foster reconciliation,” says Davis.
