The True Story of Orange Shirt Day and Truth and Reconciliation

Every year on September 30th, people across Canada wear orange. School, workplaces, and communities post photos and host events. You’ll see the phrase “Every Child Matters” displayed everywhere, but where did this day come from? And what is its deeper meaning beyond the shirt itself?

The Origin: One Child’s Orange Shirt
Orange Shirt Day began with the story of Phyllis Webstad, a Secwepemc woman from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem first Nation in British Columbia. In 1973, when she was just six years old, Phyllis was sent to St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School. Like many kids starting school, she was excited to wear something special: A brand new orange shirt her grandmother had bought for her.

But when she arrived, school officials stripped her of that shirt, and she never saw it again. That single act – taking away a child’s clothing, her joy, her sense of self – was a small but piercing reflection of what residential schools were designed to do: erase Indigenous identities, cultures, and families.

From Story to Movement
In 2013, survivors and community members in Williams Lake, BC, began Orange Shirt Day to honor Phyllis’ story and to remember all children who attended residential schools. The date – September 30th was chosen. This is the day Indigenous children were taken from their homes to begin the school term, often not returning until summer, if at all.

The movement grew across the country, supported by survivors, educators, and communities.
Then in 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released its 94 Calls to Action, which included the recommendation of a national day of remembrance for residential school survivors.

In 2021, after the heartbreaking discovery of unmarked graves at former residential school sites, the Canadian Government officially declared September 30th the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

The Meaning Behind the Orange Shirt

The orange shirt has become a powerful symbol. It stands for:

• Identity taken away – like Phyllis’ shirt, stripped from her on her first day.
• Resilience – the survival and strength of Indigenous children, families, and communities
• Commitment to remember – the phrase “Every Child Matters” is not just a slogan. It’s a reminder that every child who went to residential school was valued, loved, and deserved a full, safe life.

The True Purpose of the Day

At its heart, Orange Shirt Day and Truth and Reconciliation are about:

1. Honoring survivors – Listen to their stories and recognizing their resilience
2. Remembering those who never came home – the children whose lives were cut short
3. Education and truth – understanding the history and ongoing impacts of residential schools
4. Commitment to reconciliation – moving forward together, with respect, justice, and a willingness to change

The Common Misunderstanding

Like many meaningful days, there is a risk of losing the depth behind it. For some, September 30th has become simply “wear an orange shirt day.”

Why It Still Matters Today

Residential schools are not distant history. The last one closed in 1996 – well within living memory. Survivors are still among us, carrying scars of trauma, loss, and resilience. Their children and grandchildren still feel the impacts through intergenerational effects on language, culture, and community well-being.

When we wear orange, we are not just remembering the past – we are acknowledging its ongoing presence in the present, and we are committing to a future where reconciliation is not a buzzword but a lived reality.

Orange Shirt Day – More Than a Shirt, More Than a Day

September 30th is not a holiday. It is not a “day off.” It is not simply about putting on orange and going about business as usual. It is a day rooted in a story of pain and survival – and in the political truth that this country tried to erase Indigenous peoples, their languages, their cultures, and their very lives.

The Truth We Cannot Forget

Phyllis’ story is not just about one child’s shirt. It is the story of over 150,000 Indigenous children who were forced into residential schools across Canada. Children who were punished for speaking their language. Children who were told their culture was worthless. Children who were abused, neglected, and far to often, never returned home. Again the last residential school closed in 1996. This is not “ancient history.” Survivors are still alive. Families are still grieving. Communities are still rebuilding from generations of trauma and loss.

Why Orange Maters

Again the orange shirt is not a fashion statement. It is a political symbol. It represents:

• The theft of identity
• The resilience of survivors
• The demand for justice

When we say “Every Child Matters,” it is not a slogan – it is a declaration that Canada must reckon with its past and stop repeating its mistakes.

The Purpose vs. The Comfort

Too often, this day gets watered down: The truth is: It cannot be reduced to symbolic gestures. It requires structural change, justice, and accountability.

A Survivors’ Reminder

For survivors, orange shirt day is not about making others feel good. It is about being heard after decades of silence. It is about naming the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it is. It is about demanding that Canada stop pretending reconciliation is a box to check.

The Call To Action

If Orange Shirt Day is to mean anything, it must move beyond symbolism. Here’s what action looks like:

• Listen to survivors. Read their stories, attend events. Believe their truths.
• Hold governments and leaders accountable. Demand progress on the TRC’s 94 Calls to Action and the MMIWG Calls for Justice.
• Wear orange, but also learn the truth. Read survivor testimonies, share their stories. Teach your children the real history of this land.
• Move beyond symbolism. Don’t stop at the shirt. Support Indigenous – led initiatives, language revitalization, Advocate for Indigenous land rights and defense, and community healing. Support Indigenous sovereignty, and cultural resurgence.
• Stand with them every day. Reconciliation is not one day a year – it is a lifelong responsibility.
• Challenge tokenism. Don’t let workplaces, schools, or communities stop at “wearing orange.” Push for meaningful education and policy change.
• Do the hard work everyday. September 3oth is a reminder, not the end point.

Orange Shirt Day: Their Story, Their Truth, and The Work Still Ahead

When they were children they were taken from their families and sent to residential schools. They didn’t have a choice. They were told it was for their own good, that they would be “educated,” that it was the only way to succeed in Canada, but the truth is, residential schools were never about education. They were about erasure. They were about breaking them, silencing their languages, cutting them off from their families and teaching them to be ashamed of who they were. They remember the humiliation of having their hair cut, the sting of being punished for speaking their language. Orange shirt day is not about fashion. It’s not about looking good on social media, it’s not about a day off work. It is about remembering the children who never came home. It is about honoring those who survived. It is about demanding that this country finally live up to its words and promises.

The Political Reality

I hear people say, “that was in the past. We’ve apologized. Isn’t it time to move on?”

NO

Because the last residential school closed in 1996

• Because survivors are still alive, still telling their stories
• Because intergenerational trauma doesn’t vanish with an apology
• Because governments have dragged their feet on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action. Too many remain unfulfilled.
• Reconciliation is not charity. It is justice. It is political. It is about land, about language, about sovereignty. It is about ensuring that no child ever again has to endure what they went through. Let me be clear. Reconciliation is not about feeling good. Its not about checking a box or hosting a ceremony once a year.
• Reconciliation begins with truth, and the truth is that Canada built its wealth, its schools, its institutions on the backs of Indigenous children and families who were stripped of their rights and lives. The truth is that unmarked graves are still being uncovered. The truth is that Indigenous people continue to face systemic racism in child welfare, health care, policing, and education today. Reconciliation without truth is meaningless and truth without action is empty. Survival does not always look like bare feet running from soldiers or barbed wire wrapped around a camp. Sometimes it looks like a heartbeat that never stops racing, even in silence. Sometimes it looks like stories that refuse to die, even when the world would rather they fade away.

When I look at the histories of Indigenous people, and the histories of others – Black, Jewish, French, Irish and Scottish – I see pain written differently, but the echoes carry across the ages. Each story is unique, but together they form a chorus of suffering, resistance, and survival.

What Happened to the Indigenous People Who Were Stolen in Two Ways: First, their land, then their children. Their languages were silenced, their ceremonies outlawed, their drums confiscated. Generations were forced into schools designed not to teach but to erase. They were made strangers in their own homes, foreigners on their own territories. Survival meant holding onto fragments of who they were in secret, whispering prayers when they were forbidden to pray.

What Happened to the Black People

They were stolen in another way – taken from their homelands, ripped from families, sold as property. Their bodies chained, their labor exploited, their identities stripped away. centuries of slavery bled into centuries of systemic racism, with laws and violence designed to keep them down. Survival meant carving out culture under oppression, turning sorrow into song, and reclaiming dignity in the face of those who denied their humanity.

What Happened to the Jewish People

They were targeted in yet another way. The Holocaust was a machine of extermination designed to erase them entirely. Ghettos, camps, gas chambers – the tools of genocide were sharpened against them. Six million lives taken. Their survival was not only in those who made it out alive but in the insistence that the world remember, that denial never taken root, that their voices never be silenced again.

What Happened to the French People

The French, during World War II, were occupied. Their land invaded, their sovereignty stripped by Nazi rule. Their survival meant underground resistance, protecting their language, culture, and freedom in the face of dictatorship. Their scars were real, but unlike the others, they were not stolen from their land nor forbidden from being French forever. Liberation returned what was taken through the trauma till lingered.

What Happened to the Irish and Scottish People

They were colonized and oppressed by the English. Their land was taken, their languages (Gaelic) was suppressed, famines worsened by colonial policy (esp. the Irish Potato Famine), and cultural traditions restricted.

The Differences, The Common Thread, The Differences Matter

• Indigenous peoples still live on the land of their ancestors, yet they are treated like guests.
• Black people live in lands their ancestors never chose, still fighting chains that are now legal, social, and economic.
• Jewish people rebuilt communities out of ashes, vowing “Never Again” while still facing antisemitism.
• The French people regained what was theirs, but suffering was measured in years, not centuries.
• the Irish and Scottish people suffered colonial oppression in Europe and discrimination when immigrating, but over time were able to assimilate into the dominate settler culture and gain privilege that Indigenous and Black people were largely denied.

But the common thread is that all these people endured attempts to break them. Attempts to tell them they were less than human. Attempts to erase their songs, their stories, their breath.

Why This Truth Matters

As survivors, as descendants of survivors, all carry responsibility. Not only to remember but to insist the world does not forget. The world is quick to honor some stories while silencing others. Quick to mourn European suffering, slower to face the ongoing wounds of colonialism and slavery.

Truth and reconciliation begin with honesty: Not all histories are treated equally. Not all survivors are given the same space to grieve.

Another Call to Action

So I say this: Listen. Listen to the voices of those who are still fighting to exist. Lift up the truths that make you uncomfortable. Teach your children not just about the Holocaust, but also about residential school and the slave ships. Mourn not only what was lost in Europe, but what continues to be lost on Turtle Island. Because Survival should not mean carrying the silence of the dead on our backs forever.

• Survival should mean justice.
• Survival should mean dignity.
• Survival should mean life, fully lived, with no one erased.

Here are some ways to show support for Orange shirt Day without wearing an orange shirt.

• Wear an orange ribbon or bracelet instead of a shirt.
• Create posters, drawings, or crafts with the words “Every Child Matters.”
• Learn and share a fact about residential schools or Indigenous history with others.
• Read or listen to a story written by an Indigenous author or survivor.
• Join a school or community activity that honors survivors and children.
• Take a moment of silence or reflection to remember those affected.
• Support Indigenous voices by respecting, listening, and speaking up against stereotypes.

Final Words

The orange shirt is a story of survival: The day itself is a demand for justice. Wearing orange means nothing if it is not matched with truth, accountability, and action. Reconciliation is not about comfort. It is about justice, and it begins when we refuse to look away. Every child matters. Every survivor matters. Every lost life matters.

The question is –

What will you do about it?