Surrey hospital worker told to take off orange shirt worn for Indigenous children

SURREY (NEWS 1130) – We’ve been encouraged to wear orange this week to honour the Indigenous children found buried at a former residential school in Kamloops in May, but a First Nations woman says when she did — her boss told her to take it off.

The woman works at Surrey Memorial Hospital but is employed by Aramark, which has apologized to the worker, according to her union.

In a TikTok, the woman says she left work on Monday when she was told she couldn’t wear the orange shirt.

“I said ‘no,’ and they said ‘take it off,’ and I said ‘no, it stays on,'” she recalls in the video. “If I can’t wear it, I’m going home.”

@felicia_debbie##215 ##residentialschool a topic i will not fight over? original sound – Felicia Debbie

In a statement to NEWS 1130, Aramark, which provides housekeeping services at some Fraser Health facilities, says, “For health and safety reasons, our intention was to stay true to our uniform policy and not intended to be disrespectful in any way.”

“We understand and sympathize with the pain the community is experiencing and recognize this could have been handled in a more supportive way,” the statement continues. “We are exploring this policy and intend to compensate the person who left work on Monday. We are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and are using this as an opportunity to open a dialogue with our staff.”

Mike Old with the Hospital Employees’ Union says this should never have happened.

“We became aware of this incident shortly after it happened. We made sure that we provided our member with representation. We met with her and the employer, and made sure that she received an apology for her treatment,” he said, adding the union has asked Aramark to engage cultural safety training for managers and supervisors.

“It’s been a really, really difficult week, especially so for Indigenous people and residential school survivors and their families,” he said.

Many people have been wearing orange shirts this week, to honour and remember the 215 children whose remains were found at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops.

A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available for anyone affected by residential schools. You can call 1-866-925-4419 24 hours a day to access emotional support and services.

“It’s really important that our healthcare system is a place of compassion and care for all who need the services. That includes workers who work in the system,” Old said, pointing to an independent investigation into Indigenous-specific discrimination in B.C’s healthcare system.

“We know from Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond’s report earlier this year that Indigenous healthcare workers in particular face a lot of discrimination and racism in the workplace. We have to do much better in the healthcare system and we’re hoping that Aramark carries through with its commitment to do some training,” he said.

Fraser Health is calling the incident “unfortunate,” adding it told “leadership at all of our sites that they could support staff to wear orange to honour those who were lost” following the discovery in Kamloops. It also lowered flags at its facilities.

“We acknowledge the significant impact that the trauma experienced in residential schools continues to have on generations of survivors and their families,” a statement from the health authority reads. “Fraser Health remains committed to our collective actions that are required to eradicate racism in our health system.”

Related articles: 

• Children’s festival shows solidarity to Kamloops Residential School victims, families

• Hundreds gather at Vancouver vigil for 215 children whose remains were found in Kamloops

• Calls for Pope to apologize for residential schools persist after Vancouver bishop’s statement

The health authority says it’s also renewing discussions with worksites and contractors “to emphasize the importance of practicing and understanding reconciliation.”

Fraser Health buildings, along with many others across the province and country, have been lowering their flags and encouraging employees to wear orange in honour of the 215 Indigenous children whose remains were found at the former residential school site in B.C.’s Interior last month.

Communities have been honouring the children lost to the residential school system in the days following the discovery, which was announced on Thursday of last week.

There continue to be growing calls for every former residential school site across Canada to be searched. The United Nations Human Rights Commission is among those urging Canada to do so promptly and exhaustively.

On Wednesday, Vancouver’s archbishop issued an apology, saying the Roman Catholic Church was “unquestionably wrong” for implementing a colonialist government policy.

However, survivors, their families, and communities continue to wait for an apology from the Pope — which was one of the 94 Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015 — for the church’s role in the residential school system.