Clad in orange T-shirts, students across the country will spend their Mondays learning about the intergenerational harm done to children at Canada鈥檚 residential schools.
Sept. 30 marks the seventh annual Orange Shirt Day, started by Phyllis Webstad, a residential school survivor and Stswecem鈥檆 Xgat鈥檛em from Williams Lake. The national day of remembrance refers to one of her first memories at St. Joseph鈥檚 Mission Residential School in B.C.鈥檚 central Interior in the 1970s, when staff took away her orange shirt, bought especially for school, when she was six years old.
鈥淭he colour orange has always reminded me of that [incident] and how my feelings didn鈥檛 matter, how no one cared and how I felt like I was worth nothing,鈥� Webstad writes on the Orange Shirt Day website. 鈥淎ll of us little children were crying and no one cared.鈥�
Her story has inspired many across the country and around the world to talk about the realities of residential schools and the wider historical marginalization of Indigenous peoples.
Thousands of First Nations, M茅tis and Inuit children were removed from their homes and forced to attend residential schools. The last one closed in 1996.
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Webstad spends her time sharing her story and her beliefs about reconciliation with young people, including at an elementary school in B.C.鈥檚 Fraser Valley earlier this month.
鈥淭he elementary (schools) are the hardest,鈥� she told the . 鈥淚 have to really watch what I say with the younger ones. With the older ones, I can tell them more, but with the younger ones, it鈥檚 really just surface stuff to introduce the topic.鈥�
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This year鈥檚 Orange Shirt Day will also celebrate Bill C-369, a federal bill awaiting a second vote in the Senate to make Sept. 30 the . If passed, the last day of September will be a statutory holiday.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the truth of the history of Canada,鈥� Webstad said of residential schools. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just First Nation history, this is Canadian history. And Canadians that live in this country need to be aware of this dark past.鈥�
鈥� with files from Grace Kennedy
ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca
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