Orange Shirt Day
National Truth and Reconciliation Day is a day to recognize the tragic legacy of the Canadian residential schools in countless Indigenous communities and its impact on Canadian heritage. It is a day to commemorate the children who survived the horrors of the residential schools, those who didn’t and those who are still healing.
Orange Shirt Day is a day is to raise awareness about the cultural genocide that resulted from the residential school system. The orange shirt became a symbol of how Indigenous children were stripped of their culture and self-worth.
These two days are both observed on September 30th, marking the time of year when children were taken away to residential schools.
The Story Behind Orange Shirt Day
“I went to the Mission for one year. I had just turned 6 years old. We never had very much money, and there was no welfare, but somehow my granny managed to buy me a new outfit to go to the Mission School in. I remember going to Robinson’s store and picking out a shiny orange shirt. It had eyelets and lace, and I felt so pretty in that shirt and excited to be going to school! Of course, when I got to the Mission, they stripped me, and took away my clothes, including the orange shirt. I never saw it again, except on other kids. I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t give it back to me, it was mine! Since then the colour orange has always reminded me of that and how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and how I felt like I was worth nothing. I finally get it, that the feeling of worthlessness and insignificance, ingrained in me from my first day at the mission, affected the way I lived my life for many years...I want my orange shirt back!”
Phyllis (Jack) Webstad, Dog Creek, BC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll1pUrK29MM
“Education got us into this mess and education will get us out of it.”
-Honorable Justice Murray Sinclair, chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
To learn more:
 |
 |
 |
| Orange Shirt Day | National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation | https://ubishops.on.worldcat.org:443/list/18831990 |
Suggest a Book