Orange Shirt Day 2019

September 30, 2019

“Orange Shirt Day is a sign of respect, and we’re trying to say sorry by wearing orange shirts,” explained one student at Richard Bulpitt, in an age-appropriate discussion about Orange Shirt Day.

She is, of course, talking about the annual event with the philosophy that “Every Child Matters”. Every September 30, students, teachers, and staff wear Orange Shirts to recognize the struggles that First Nation’s People had to endure in Residential Schools: a program that existed for more than 100 years. They do this by taking part in assemblies, activities, and learning around reconciliation.

As the story goes, Phyllis Webstad, the founder of Orange Shirt Day, attended Residential School as a child. For her first day of school, she was given an orange shirt by her grandmother, an article of clothing to celebrate her attending school. However, when Phyllis arrived at the school, the shirt was taken away immediately.

“They took the orange shirt away from her, because they wanted all the people to look the same,” says another student from Richard Bulpitt.

This was only the beginning of the abuse that students at Residential Schools had to endure. “The schools were government sponsored religious schools designed to established to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture”, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia.

Students in attendance suffered abuse of all kinds, with effects of that abuse lasting generations.

The last Residential School closed in 1996. Since then, students in our schools only have just begun to talk about what they were and the effect they’ve had on the First Peoples. This is thanks to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which Langley proudly supports.

For further reading on the topic, visit these links:

Orange Shirt Day story
Truth and Reconciliation Commission Canada