Information from September 30 is Orange Shirt Day | The United Church of Canada (united-church.ca)
Orange Shirt Day(opens in a new tab) (September 30) is an invitation to everyone to wear an orange shirt to show their compassion for the survivors of the Indian Residential Schools and to say that all children matter. Orange Shirt Day began with Phyllis (Jack) Webstad’s story, a Northern Secwpemc (Shuswap) woman from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation who went to St. Joseph Mission Residential School. On her first day of school, Phyllis’s grandmother dressed her in an orange shirt. When Phyllis entered the school, she was stripped of her orange shirt and she wasn’t able to go home for a very long time – over 300 sleeps by her count. As a child, Phyllis cried herself to sleep every night along with other children who could not go home. No one listened to their pain or showed compassion.
