The origin story from the orange shirt comes from residential school survivor Phyllis Webstad. She wore an orange shirt to residential school and it was taken away from her. (980 CJME file photo)

By CJME

Every Child Matters

Why do people wear orange on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation?

Sep 30, 2024 | 10:52 AM

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a day to honour residential school survivors, those who never returned home, their families and their communities.

The day is also sometimes referred to as Orange Shirt Day. Shirts worn typically have the slogan “every child matters.”

Rhett Sangster, Director, Reconciliation and Community Partnerships with Office of the Treaty Commissioner, said the origin of the shirt comes from a residential school survivor named Phyllis Webstad.

“She told a story about when she was a six-year-old girl, her grandmother had bought her a brand new orange shirt,” he said. “When she got to the school, it was taken away.”

But this represents far more than just a stolen shirt.

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“Their languages were taken away, their spirituality, their sense of who they were as First Nations people were attempted to be taken away through residential schools, through the churches and the Federal Government,” Sangster said.

“So (wearing orange) is a recognition that you know that culture and those languages are still here. They’re still strong. So we wear those shirts in solidarity for those survivors, and those that didn’t come home.”

The saying “every child matters” represents children from the past and generations into the future.

“It’s about those children that didn’t come home, and those children that weren’t treated very well as children that are now adults,” he said.

“They have children and grandchildren and great grandchildren of their own now. And it’s about all children matter. Those seven generations before and the seven generations to come are what are going to help build our future together.”

Sangster said it’s important people lean into the truth on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

“There still are people that are denying things,” he said. “There are people that don’t know about this history. We really need to understand what it was, why it was, why it was so harmful, and why we need to understand that and move forward, because it’s really important for our future as a country.”

As for the next step, Sangster encourages people to continue to learn and make spaces like the justice system, education system and healthcare system for example, more inclusive.

“We need to use whatever influence we have, whatever work that we do in whatever communities we are in, to push for change, and to push for real systemic change,” he said.

Learn more about Orange Shirt Day at www.orangeshirtday.org.

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