Orange Shirt Day (Sept 28)

This year, HWDSB will be observing Orange Shirt Day: A Day to Remember Children Taken to Residential Schools on Friday, September 28. Orange Shirt Day is about learning the history of Residential schools and how it still affects people today. We wear orange to honour the lives of Indigenous children who were taken from their homes and families to live in residential schools. Wearing orange shows that we care, and we won’t forget.

Orange Shirt Day is a legacy of the St. Joseph Mission (SJM) residential school commemoration event held in Williams Lake, BC, Canada, in the spring of 2013. It grew out of Phyllis’ story (https://www.orangeshirtday.org/phyllis-story.html) of having her new orange shirt taken away on her first day of Residential School. It has become an opportunity to keep the discussion on all aspects of residential schools happening annually.