Results: September 30 Is Orange Shirt Day

Orange Shirt day is an annual event inspired by a girl who couldn't wear hers. Phyllis Webstad was six years old when the new orange shirt she excitedly chose for her first day of school was stripped off her back. She never saw it again. It was the early '70s and Webstad was the third generation of her family to attend St. Joseph's Residential School in Williams Lake, B.C. Most people knew it as The Mission. She didn't know that merely being born an indigenous child surrendered her to an education system designed to break down her identity. "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," she said in a statement. "All of us little children were crying and no one cared." In 2013, Webstad organized the first Orange Shirt Day to offer all the first nations community support, and it has become a national event in Canada, held every September 30. Have you participated in an Orange Shirt Day?

From the 1880s until the last school shut down in 1996, Canada's residential school system forced about 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Metis children to attend church-run facilities that aimed to "take the Indian out of the child." The students faced widespread neglect and abuse in the schools. It took Webstad 40 years to get over what happened to her and to use her experience to fight racism and bullying under the motto "every child matters" — and by using orange. In 2018, she even wrote a children's book, called "The Orange Shirt Story". Are you familiar with the history of Canadian residential schools?

Orange Shirt Day is also an opportunity for First Nations, local governments, schools and communities to come together in the spirit of reconciliation and hope for generations of children to come. Orange Shirt day has become recognized and celebrated Canada wide. It also hopes to promote the understanding and appreciation of the First Nations culture for all Canadians. Do you enjoy learning about first nations culture?

Webstad believes that all Canadian children should know the story behind the residential schools, in an effort to understand a truly horrible part of Canadian history, in the hopes that it will never be repeated. And she feels it is best to start with the younger generation, which is why her book was written for this generation. Do you think this book should be required reading in the Canadian school system?