Orange Shirt Day recognized

On September 30, students from Canadian schools participated in Orange Shirt Day. This is not only symbolic but reassures children in our society that they matter. It doesn’t make a difference in race, background, or ethnicity, everyone deserves the same treatment and respect. It was a harsh time for many Indigenous people as trucks came into Canadian communities and took children to various residential schools from 1830 up until the year 1996. Over 130,000 children were removed from the only thing they ever knew and loved, their home and family, and they never returned. For more than 30 decades, many children suffered abuse and humiliation during this period, and over 6,000 died while in residential schools.

The orange shirt movement came from a situation back in 1973 when Phyllis Webstad who was six years old at the time entered a residential school. It was a proud moment for Webstad to have brand new clothes, and she was proud of the orange shirt her grandmother purchased. The residential school quickly stripped her of her new clothing and forced her to wear a uniform. Webstad recalls the humiliation, the feeling of worthlessness, and feeling insignificant which was ingrained in all residential school children.

It has only been through published reports and the Indigenous speaking out that Canadians are now learning the full details of brutality and mistreatment of the children in the residential schools. As a significant piece of history, 2015 marked the beginning of the orange shirt movement, and people began to stand together to show that all children matter.