Orange Shirt Day: Recognizing the Injustice of Residential Schools
On Wednesday, September 30th, Canadians are encouraged to come together (in spirit) and wear orange shirts in recognition of the harm caused by the residential school system - paying remembrance to the lives claimed, and showing respect to the survivors. Residential schools are a dark part of Canadian history that is often swept under the rug, but by collectively wearing orange shirts, we can make the statement that every child matters, combatting the low self-esteem that residential schools instilled in Indigenous Youth.
The story behind the origin of Orange Shirt Day is simple. Phyllis Webstad (pictured below), of Dog Creek, BC is one of over 150,000 children who were in the residential school system. When she was 6 years old, she had her first day of Mission School, ready to go in a brand new orange shirt that her grandmother bought her. Right away, she was stripped of her clothes, and was never able to wear her orange shirt again. As a result, to Phyllis the orange shirt symbolizes the mistreatment and lack of significance she was shown, and the loss of the shirt parallels the loss of language, culture, freedom, family and worth felt by Indigenous people due to the residential school system.

Great post! 🧡🧡🧡🧡
I feel really sorry about how this person had to live and I cannot imagine the same for me
Leave a comment