About Orange Shirt Day

Every Child Matters

Between the late 1800s and 1996, more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children attended Indian Residential Schools. Orange Shirt Day commemorates the ongoing impacts of the Residential School system.

The Orange Shirt Day movement was started by Phyllis Webstad, a member of the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation and former Residential School student, to honour Survivors and Intergenerational Survivors, and to remember those children who never made it home. Orange Shirt Day is an opportunity for people of all ages, backgrounds, and cultural identities to engage with the ongoing fallout from the Residential School system.

Watch the video below to hear Phyllis’ orange shirt story and visit the Orange Shirt Society website to learn more.

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

On July 20, 2021, the Government of Canada declared September 30 the “National Day for Truth and Reconciliation”. This federal statutory holiday is intended as a day for public servants and all Canadians to recognize and commemorate the legacy of residential schools. The declaration of this National day responds to Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action No. 80, which calls for the creation of a statutory holiday “to honour Survivors, their families, and communities, and ensure that public commemoration of the history and legacy of Residential Schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process.”