While tomorrow is Orange Shirt Day, Keewatin Tribal Council will commemorate the day today at Ma-Mow-We-Tak Friendship Centre with an opening ceremony at 7am.

KTC will also hold a special fireworks event Saturday at 10 pm at the TRCC to close out Orange Shirt Day and mark a significant event in the lives of many northern residential school students.

KTC Grand Chief Walter Wastesicoot shares some of his story here about his journey on the Train of Tears.

“You’re leaving your family, you’re leaving your parents, you don’t know if or when you will ever see them again.  You are six years old and you are on a train, you don’t really see your surroundings for what they are because of the trauma you are experiencing. There is a profound sense of loss as you move further and further away.”

Wastesicoot was 6 years old when he and his brother were abducted while playing in the front yard of their home in Churchill.

For the complete interview about the Train of Tears, listen to Thompson Today at 12:40 and 5:10 this afternoon.

It will also play again tomorrow after the 6 pm news.