Every year on September 30th, people across Canada wear orange and participate in Orange Shirt Day events to recognize and raise awareness about the history and legacies of the residential school system in Canada. Orange Shirt Day originates from the story of Phyllis Webstad from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation.
In 1973, on her first day at St. Joseph’s Residential School in Williams Lake, BC, Phyllis’s shiny new orange shirt was stripped from her, never to be seen again.
Read these Resources:
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action
The Survivors Speak
Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future
Inuit Nunangat Food Security Strategy
Make it Safe: Canada’s Obligation to End the First Nations Water Crisis
Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Phyllis Webstad’s Story
Whose Land You’re On… …and their History, Culture, Treaties, etc.
Indian Residential School Survivor Legacy Project
Indigenous Children and the Child Welfare System in Canada
Nutrition Diversified 