The color orange was chosen because of something that happened to Phyllis Webstad when she was only six years old.
It was September 30, 1973, the first day she attended St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School in British Columbia. Her grandmother had bought Webstad a brand-new shiny orange shirt to wear, adding to the young student’s first-day-of-school excitement.
“I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t give it back to me; it was mine!” Webstad recalls. The color orange has always reminded her of that moment — how her feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared, and how she felt like she was worth nothing.
“All of us little children were crying, and no one cared,” she said.
She never forgot the loss that turned into a hurt to her heart.
### The Birth of the Orange Shirt Society
In 2013, Webstad was invited to return to St. Joseph’s as an Indian residential school survivor. She convinced other survivors to buy orange t-shirts as a way to remember those who attended residential schools in Canada. This movement led to the formation of the Orange Shirt Society.
Wearing orange shirts has become a symbol of defiance against those things that undermine children’s self-esteem, and a commitment to anti-racism and anti-bullying in general, Webstad explains.
However, the Orange Shirt Society is not only about defiance. Orange Shirt Day has become an opportunity for First Nations, local governments, schools, and communities to come together in the spirit of reconciliation and hope for generations of children to come.
### Why September 30?
September 30 was chosen as the primary day of remembrance because it is around that time of year that Indigenous children were taken from their homes and sent to residential schools.
It also serves as an opportunity to set the stage for anti-racism and anti-bullying policies for the coming school year, Webstad notes.
### Growth of Orange Shirt Day
Since 2013, Orange Shirt Day has evolved into days of reflection throughout Canada and the United States. Orange has also become a color embraced by women jingle dress dancers.
Today, Orange Shirt Day carries a more serious tone, especially following the revelation in late May of the discovery of the remains of 215 children in a mass grave at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Since then, thousands of other bodies have been found at residential schools throughout Canada.
“Every child matters” has become a mantra seen on t-shirts and rally signs nationwide.
In 2021, for the first time, Canada officially celebrated Truth and Reconciliation Day on September 30. However, to many, September 30 will always be known as Orange Shirt Day, a lasting legacy of the difference Phyllis Webstad made in creating an Indigenous movement.
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