{"id":3237,"date":"2025-10-25T20:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T23:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/10\/25\/james-smith-chief-says-hes-offended-by-mandatory-federal-branding-on-orange-shirt-day-funding\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T20:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T23:44:13","slug":"james-smith-chief-says-hes-offended-by-mandatory-federal-branding-on-orange-shirt-day-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/10\/25\/james-smith-chief-says-hes-offended-by-mandatory-federal-branding-on-orange-shirt-day-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"James Smith chief says he\u2019s offended by mandatory federal branding on Orange Shirt Day funding"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>SaskatchewanThe chief of James Smith Cree Nation says he\u2019s offended by Ottawa\u2019s requirement that promotional materials for Orange Shirt Day events funded by the federal government carry government branding.First Nation was required to put government branding on promotional material in exchange for fundingAlessia Passafiume  \u00b7 The Canadian Press  \u00b7 Posted: Oct 25, 2025 6:20 PM EDT | Last Updated: 35 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesKirby Constant, chief of James Smith Cree Nation, says the mandatory government branding defies the spirit of reconciliation. (Don Somers\/CBC)The chief of James Smith Cree Nation says he\u2019s offended by Ottawa\u2019s requirement that promotional materials for Orange Shirt Day events funded by the federal government carry government branding.Kirby Constant told The Canadian Press the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is meant to honour survivors of residential schools and day schools \u2014 and those who never made it home \u2014 and to mark the legacy of those institutions in First Nations communities today.James Smith Cree Nation received roughly $6,700 from the federal Canadian Heritage department to hold events in the community for Orange Shirt Day on Sept. 30. The community\u2019s events included a memorial walk, a sweat ceremony, a feast and a beading class. Some of that money was also spent on honorariums for firekeepers.But as a condition of that funding, the First Nation was required to put Government of Canada branding on promotional materials \u2014 standard practice for projects paid for by Canadian Heritage.\u201dAcknowledgment is a condition of funding,\u201d said a government email sent to the First Nation.Constant said it defies the spirit of reconciliation for the federal government to force his community to publicly thank Ottawa for funding to memorialize the grim legacy of the residential school system it helped to create.He said it feels like the government is shoving words in his mouth.\u201dHere\u2019s your $6,700, but you gotta have this at the bottom of your programming just to say that Canada is doing something,\u201d Constant said.\u201dI picture myself going to residential school [and someone saying]\u2018You can\u2019t talk these words, but here, you gotta say these words.\u201d\u2018Acknowledgment ensures transparency\u2019: spokespersonThe federal government, largely in partnership with the Catholic Church, funded the residential school system. Roughly 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend the schools, which were often rife with abuse and located far away from the children\u2019s home communities. The last residential school was closed in 1996.The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was launched as part of a legal settlement between the federal government and survivors of residential schools, concluded the goal of the schools was to erase Indigenous cultures.An estimated 6,000 children died while attending the schools, although experts at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, who continue to comb through millions of records, say the actual number could turn out to be much higher.Along with the acknowledgment of federal funding, Constant is also required to submit a report on the activities his community organized.According to a federal government document sent to James Smith Cree Nation, projects funded by the department must address three objectives: increasing awareness of residential schools, honouring survivors and those who never returned, and providing a forum to promote healing.In an emailed statement, a Canadian Heritage spokesperson said all funding recipients are required to acknowledge where the money came from.\u201dThis acknowledgment ensures transparency of government spending and highlights the government\u2019s role in supporting initiatives that benefit communities and people,\u201d Ines Akue wrote.\u201dWe recognize and respect the concerns raised and will continue to shape our actions in a way that is sensitive to this complex reality.\u201dConstant said he continues to live with the legacy of residential schools himself, having grown up without learning his language or understanding his culture.\u201d[The federal government] really did a number on us, and I could see that daily,\u201d he said.He said he\u2019s trying to change that legacy with his own children by including them in traditional ceremonies and incorporating more spirituality in their lives.\u201dBut we also have to coincide with this Western culture, where we have to be educated. It\u2019s kind of like walking in two paths at once,\u201d Constant said. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SaskatchewanThe chief of James Smith Cree Nation says he\u2019s offended by Ottawa\u2019s requirement that promotional materials for Orange Shirt Day events funded by the federal government carry government branding.First Nation was required to put government branding on promotional material in exchange for fundingAlessia Passafiume \u00b7 The Canadian Press \u00b7 Posted: Oct 25, 2025 6:20 PM [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3238,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118,1],"tags":[116],"class_list":["post-3237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-indigenous","category-uncategorized","tag-indigenous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}