Orange Shirt Day

By Kiran Niet
September 28th was Orange Shirt Day, a day to remember the horrors of the residential schools. The first Orange Shirt Day was in 2013. September 28th was chosen because it was the time of year that children were taken from their homes to attend Residential schools. These schools were created as an attempt to assimilate First Nations culture and resulted in irreversible damage to families and communities all across Canada. This damage is still being felt today. One of the countless children who experienced the residential schools was Phyllis Webstad. On the day she was taken to the school, she was six years old. Her grandmother bought her a new orange shirt to wear to school and Phyllis was ecstatic. As soon as she got to the residential school, however, she was stripped of all her possessions and her orange shirt was lost forever. We wear an orange shirt today to acknowledge the injustice that Phyllis and countless others experienced. Orange Shirt Day is a chance for all Canadians to reconcile with the past and look toward a brighter future.