You may have noticed something different about this September 30th marked on your calendars; in the past, people across Canada came together on the 30th to wear orange in acknowledgment of Orange Shirt Day, but the holiday, starting this year, now also includes the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The day is a period of reflection; the holiday provides a time for Indigenous people, survivors, and families to share their traumatic experiences of being forced into residential boarding schools from as early as 1831, and also serves as an opportunity for Canadians to recognize the historical oppression and attempted assimilation of the First Peoples’ culture, language, and ethnicity as a whole. Both the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day on the 30th encourage non-Indigenous individuals to not only learn more about the First Peoples’ struggles against discrimination, but also to take action by supporting motions such as the 94 “calls to action” as outlined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Orange Shirt Day wouldn't be here if it weren't for Phyllis Webstad, a member of the Stswecem'c Xgat'tem First Nation, opening up about her story of being a survivor of the former St. Joseph Mission residential school in Williams Lake, British Columbia (1973-1974). On September 30th of 2013, Phyllis finally found the courage to share her disturbing experiences with the world, officially driving the Orange Shirt Day movement.
The meaning behind the color orange goes back to the day Phyllis was first going to the St. Joseph Mission residential boarding school. Her grandmother had bought her a bright new orange shirt for her first day, but it was immediately snatched away when she was just six years old. The symbol of the color orange, which now represents “the stripping away of culture, freedom and self-esteem experienced by Indigenous children over generations,” is just one element of what makes Orange Shirt Day so special, though; September 30th itself holds much importance as the scheduled day each year when Indigenous children would be forcibly taken from their families and shoved into residential schools.
While Orange Shirt Day has been around for nine years, September 30, 2021 was the first ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The event, which also calls for reflection on the Indian Residential Schools similar to Orange Shirt Day, was brought about as “a direct response to Call to Action 80, which called for a federal statutory day of commemoration.”
September 30th is an invaluable time to discuss Canada's discriminatory Indian residential school system and its toxic effects for not only the children it abused, but also the families it tore apart. It solemnly recognizes the Indigenous peoples’ suffering, and, by informing Canadians about the dark history of residential schools, urges people to take action and support Canada’s First Peoples.
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