28 The Orange Shirt

The orange shirt, and the statement, Every Child Matters, has become the symbol for recognizing the truth about Canada’s residential school history and legacy. On September 30th each year Canadians are encouraged to wear an orange shirt to commemorate and honour the many Ancestors and their Descendants who were impacted by residential schools. The orange shirt first became this symbol when Phyllis Webstad, a survivor of the St. Joseph Mission Residential School, near Williams Lake, BC told her story of being stripped of the orange shirt her grandmother had bought for her and that she proudly wore to her first day of school when she was six years old. September 30th is chosen as Orange Shirt Day as this corresponds with the start of the school year and offers the opportunity to open dialogue about reconciliation and to establish anti-oppression policies, frameworks, and curricula for school settings.