Someone went to a lot of trouble to destroy a hand-made display of orange hearts at Chilliwack Secondary School.

The display was created to honour residential school survivors and their families, as part of a Taking Action initiative undertaken by several high school students, according to Chilliwack Secondary teacher Rick Joe.

91裸聊视频淲e chose the fence at the front of the school so people passing by would see the hearts,91裸聊视频� Joe recounted.

Now it91裸聊视频檚 clear some of the orange hearts were torched, some were snapped in two, maybe kicked, while others were ripped clean off the fence.

Each orange heart has a handwritten message on it like 91裸聊视频楯ustice for the Children,91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频楨very Child Matters91裸聊视频� or 91裸聊视频楤ring them Home.91裸聊视频�

The idea was to raise awareness about the pernicious impacts of the Indian Residential School system, with the immediately recognizable colour orange 91裸聊视频� adopted for Orange Shirt Day to represent those children who never made it home.

The hand-scrawled messages encourage the public to reflect with kindness on the terrible history that allowed children to fall between the cracks of the often cruel system that was designed to 91裸聊视频渢ake the Indian out of the child91裸聊视频� by erasing their culture, language and traditions.

The display had only been up for a couple weeks in March of this year when someone set fire to a garbage can at the edge of the tennis court a few feet from the hearts. It happened in the middle of the night on March 15, likely with the help of an accelerant since the flames could be seen on the security footage shooting up to the sky.

The footage shows a figure near the fence but they couldn91裸聊视频檛 positively identify anyone yet, and it91裸聊视频檚 not clear if they purposely meant to vandalize the display with the fire, or not. The fire scorched the fence to all the way to the top rail.

Toward the end of April another more direct hit by vandals was reported. Either an individual, or a group, directly vandalized the orange heart display this time.

91裸聊视频淚 noticed a heart was missing. And this time all the bottom hearts were torn off,91裸聊视频� Joe said.

Shredded pieces of the smaller hearts lay on the ground.

Joe91裸聊视频檚 traditional name is Skal煤lalus and he is member of the Lil91裸聊视频檞at First Nation. He has family who attended Kamloops Indian Residential School where the 215 were discovered, and he attended day school himself.

91裸聊视频淎nytime there is an attempt to raise awareness, it can stir up reactions,91裸聊视频� the teacher noted. 91裸聊视频淧eople lash out.91裸聊视频�

He knows from personal experience. At one point he found himself pre-emptively stripping his truck of anything that made it obvious he was Indigenous, like the small canoe paddle he once had hanging from his rear view with pride. After he did that, he noticed he didn91裸聊视频檛 suffer as many dings or scratches to his vehicle.

91裸聊视频淓ver since the apology was issued from (former Prime Minister Stephen) Harper, we have made some progress,91裸聊视频� Joe acknowledged.

The 2008 apology by Harper made on behalf of the Canadian government was meant to take responsibility for its role in the residential school debacle, and it came out just before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission began its work hammering out 94 recommendations.

91裸聊视频淏ut we are still a long ways away,91裸聊视频� Joe said. 91裸聊视频淭his shows that locally we91裸聊视频檙e still in the truth-telling phase of truth and reconciliation.91裸聊视频�

He does believe that overall Canadians were genuinely upset when the news of the first 215 unmarked graves in Kamloops came to light. There was a national shift.

91裸聊视频淭he whole country was sad.91裸聊视频�

But only a fraction of the 139 residential schools have been searched, and there is much work left to do. The heart vandalism has left those involved with the project both disheartened and hurt.

Geralee George, a Grade 9 CSS student who made some of the hearts, said the damage made her very sad.

91裸聊视频淚t really shows that whoever did this does not support the 91裸聊视频楨very Child Matters91裸聊视频� idea at all,91裸聊视频� George said.

It91裸聊视频檚 not clear why anyone would chose to try to destroy the display, or what possible reason there could be behind such mean-spirited destruction.

91裸聊视频淧eople can hurt in different ways, and they reach out in different ways,91裸聊视频� the teacher said.

The person, or persons, who did it could even be someone impacted by residential schools themselves, Joe said, through intergenerational trauma.

Possibly just seeing the display brought back too many memories.

91裸聊视频淚t is emotional, hard work. You never know. It could also be someone whose parents often say negative things toward Indigenous people and they were just following their family and teachings.91裸聊视频�

Chilliwack School District staff, as well as Chilliwack Secondary staff, are still looking into the acts of mischief and vandalism.

91裸聊视频淭his is not over yet,91裸聊视频� Joe said.

91裸聊视频淗opefully we find out who it was and talk to them.91裸聊视频�

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