What is Orange Shirt Day?
Orange Shirt Day began in 2013 as a way to promote healing and reconciliation for those affected by the Canadian Indian residential school system.
What were residential schools?
From 1831 to 1996, typically on September 30 of each year, native children were taken from their homes to residential schools to be culturally assimilated.
Students were usually required to attend schools that were far from their homes in order to minimize contact with family and friends. In many schools, it was forbidden to use indigenous languages, even in letters home, and abuse was common. Survivors of the system tend to have a higher rate of substance abuse and post-traumatic stress.
Over the 160-year period, it’s estimated that about 150,000 children attended the schools and that over 4,000 died.
Why do we wear orange on Orange Shirt Day?
Orange Shirt Day was inspired by Phyllis Webstad, who, as a six-year-old in 1973, went to St. Joseph Mission Residential School in a brand new orange shirt and had it taken away from her.
We celebrate Orange Shirt Day by wearing an orange shirt on September 30 to show support for survivors and to encourage healing.
What are you and your students doing to celebrate Orange Shirt Day? Let us know in the comments!