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.

sa国际传媒淲e chose the fence at the front of the school so people passing by would see the hearts,sa国际传媒� Joe recounted.

Now itsa国际传媒檚 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 sa国际传媒楯ustice for the Children,sa国际传媒� sa国际传媒楨very Child Matterssa国际传媒� or sa国际传媒楤ring them Home.sa国际传媒�

The idea was to raise awareness about the pernicious impacts of the Indian Residential School system, with the immediately recognizable colour orange sa国际传媒� 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 sa国际传媒渢ake the Indian out of the childsa国际传媒� 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 couldnsa国际传媒檛 positively identify anyone yet, and itsa国际传媒檚 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.

sa国际传媒淚 noticed a heart was missing. And this time all the bottom hearts were torn off,sa国际传媒� Joe said.

Shredded pieces of the smaller hearts lay on the ground.

Joesa国际传媒檚 traditional name is Skal煤lalus and he is member of the Lilsa国际传媒檞at First Nation. He has family who attended Kamloops Indian Residential School where the 215 were discovered, and he attended day school himself.

sa国际传媒淎nytime there is an attempt to raise awareness, it can stir up reactions,sa国际传媒� the teacher noted. sa国际传媒淧eople lash out.sa国际传媒�

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 didnsa国际传媒檛 suffer as many dings or scratches to his vehicle.

sa国际传媒淓ver since the apology was issued from (former Prime Minister Stephen) Harper, we have made some progress,sa国际传媒� 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.

sa国际传媒淏ut we are still a long ways away,sa国际传媒� Joe said. sa国际传媒淭his shows that locally wesa国际传媒檙e still in the truth-telling phase of truth and reconciliation.sa国际传媒�

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.

sa国际传媒淭he whole country was sad.sa国际传媒�

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.

sa国际传媒淚t really shows that whoever did this does not support the sa国际传媒楨very Child Matterssa国际传媒� idea at all,sa国际传媒� George said.

Itsa国际传媒檚 not clear why anyone would chose to try to destroy the display, or what possible reason there could be behind such mean-spirited destruction.

sa国际传媒淧eople can hurt in different ways, and they reach out in different ways,sa国际传媒� 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.

sa国际传媒淚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.sa国际传媒�

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

sa国际传媒淭his is not over yet,sa国际传媒� Joe said.

sa国际传媒淗opefully we find out who it was and talk to them.sa国际传媒�

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