September 30 is Orange Shirt Day, honouring survivors of Canada's residential schools.
Residential School Story
Orange Shirt Day takes place in Canada on
September 30. This annual event honours survivors of Canada’s
residential schools. The orange shirt represents the indigenous child
whose everyday life was stripped away.
Phyllis Webstad was six years old in 1973 when she chose a bright, new orange shirt to wear for her first day of school. When she arrived at the residential school in Williams Lake, BC, her orange shirt (a gift from her granny) was stripped off and she never saw it again. Phyllis was devastated and she felt worthless. Those feelings remained with her into adulthood, and the colour orange has always reminded her of that pain.
When Phyllis began sharing the story of her first day of school as part of her healing process, the idea for Orange Shirt Day caught on. Since 2013, many schools and businesses across Canada have taken part in this day to acknowledge the pain and harm caused to First Nations children through the residential school system.
All LINC teachers at VCC encourage you to wear orange on the last day of school in September (Sept. 27).
As part of our work on the History and Geography of Canada, we'll be studying residential schools and the devastating effect that they had on Indigenous people across Canada -- even into the 1970s. The last residential school was closed in 1996.
Key Facts About Residential Schools
Residential Schools: government-sponsored schools run by churches
Primary Purpose: to integrate or assimilate Indigenous children into mainstream, Euro-Canadian culture
Number of students who attended: 150,000 (estimate)
Number of students who died: 6,000 (estimate; records incomplete)
How long did they operate?
Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ontario, accepted first boarding students in 1831.
Gordon Residential School in Punnichy, Saskatchewan, closed in 1996.
Phyllis Webstad was six years old in 1973 when she chose a bright, new orange shirt to wear for her first day of school. When she arrived at the residential school in Williams Lake, BC, her orange shirt (a gift from her granny) was stripped off and she never saw it again. Phyllis was devastated and she felt worthless. Those feelings remained with her into adulthood, and the colour orange has always reminded her of that pain.
When Phyllis began sharing the story of her first day of school as part of her healing process, the idea for Orange Shirt Day caught on. Since 2013, many schools and businesses across Canada have taken part in this day to acknowledge the pain and harm caused to First Nations children through the residential school system.
All LINC teachers at VCC encourage you to wear orange on the last day of school in September (Sept. 27).
As part of our work on the History and Geography of Canada, we'll be studying residential schools and the devastating effect that they had on Indigenous people across Canada -- even into the 1970s. The last residential school was closed in 1996.
Key Facts About Residential Schools
Residential Schools: government-sponsored schools run by churches
Primary Purpose: to integrate or assimilate Indigenous children into mainstream, Euro-Canadian culture
Number of students who attended: 150,000 (estimate)
Number of students who died: 6,000 (estimate; records incomplete)
How long did they operate?
Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ontario, accepted first boarding students in 1831.
Gordon Residential School in Punnichy, Saskatchewan, closed in 1996.
