Orange Shirt Day

ORANGE SHIRT DAY – September 30, 2017  (Declared annually across Canada)
On Friday September 29th, students and staff across the TDSB will come together and wear Orange Shirts to recognize the harm that the Residential School System did to First Nations, Métis and Inuit children and to recognize that “Every Child Matters.” Phyllis Webstad, a member of the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation in British Columbia, was forced to attend St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School, as her relatives before her.  She entered the school in 1973 wearing a brand new orange shirt which was immediately confiscated by the staff and replaced with a uniform.  She never saw the shirt again, and began to associate the colour with the traumatic experiences in the school and the loss of language and cultural identity she suffered. In 2013, Webstad transformed her negative experiences into something positive by creating a Nationally recognized Orange Shirt Day.  Celebrated annually on September 30th, this day acknowledges the residential school system in Canada, honours those who survived, and remembers those who did not.  It is a day to demonstrate, by wearing orange, that all students matter. Wearing orange shirts on September  is a visual reminder of our shared past as Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in Canada, and provides an opportunity for dialogue between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in shaping our shared future.