Education | Nellies

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National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at Nellie’s

Posted on: October 6th, 2023 by Nellie's No Comments

Every year, September 30 marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day for all Canadians to recognize the ongoing trauma caused by residential schools, and honour the children who never returned home, the survivors, their families and communities.

As a community-based feminist organization, which operates within an anti-racist, anti-oppression framework, it’s an opportunity for us to commit to the process of truth, reconciliation and justice with First Nations, Inuit and Metis. At Nellie’s, we are dedicated to creating social change through education and advocacy to achieve social justice for all women and their children.

This year at Nellie’s, we commemorated the day with a special event for all of the women and their children currently staying at the shelter. All of our staff, as well as the shelter residents, wore orange shirts in honour of Orange Shirt Day, an Indigenous-led grassroots commemorative day that promotes the concept of “Every Child Matters”.

Orange Shirt Day was inspired by the story of residential school survivor Phyllis Jack Webstad, who was given a new orange shirt by her grandmother before being taken to a B.C. residential school. The shirt was confiscated and destroyed by her teacher on the first day of class. Wearing an orange shirt is a symbol of the stripping away of culture, freedom and self-esteem experienced by Indigenous children over generations.

Nellie’s staff wore their orange shirts to commemorate Orange Shirt Day and worked to decorate the shelter for our event.

Nellie’s counsellor Joanna Shawana opened the event with beautiful drumming and singing.

Joanna led the group in a cultural ceremony practiced by many Indigenous Peoples in Canada called smudging. Smudging is the practice of burning various medicinal plants in a ceremony for purifying or cleansing the soul of negative thoughts of a person or place.

Guest speaker Wanda Whitebird shared a bit of history of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, colonization, and residential schools. After Wanda’s talk, we all took part in sharing food and refreshments. Joanna presented Wanda with a gift of tobacco, and we presented her with an honorarium on behalf of Nellie’s.

Thank you again to Wanda Whitebird for sharing your time and stories with us at Nellie’s. We appreciate the opportunity to learn from you.

Thank-you for making our Back to School & Basics Campaign a success!

Posted on: November 7th, 2011 by Nellie's No Comments

Before we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made this year’s Back to School & Basics Campaign a success! With your support, we were able to send 70 children back to the classroom with new backpacks and school supplies and were able to provide basic necessities like toiletries, towels, and linens to the women at our shelter.

Thank you to our major in-kind donors of back to school items: eHealth Ontario, the Region of Peel, Sparks Productions, APP Canada, and the Sexual Assault Survivors Support Line @ York University. You donations of brand new pencils, paper, binders, notebooks, crayons, markers, lunch bags and backpacks gave the children at Nellie’s the confidence and capacity to return to school with everything they need. Your support was also appreciated by the 5 women at our shelter who returned to school this fall to being or upgrade their post-secondary education.

Zainab [right] from SASSL at York delivers items donated by York Students.

Thank you as well to those donors who supported us financially. Your contributions ensure that the women at our shelter are provided with the basic necessities they need as soon as they arrive at our door. We can’t say this enough – none of this would be possible without your support. THANK YOU to every single individual who donated in-kind and financially to our Back to School & Basics Campaign. You have helped the children and women at Nellie’s begin the school year on the right track – the track to success!