Today is September 30th and this is an incredibly special day in Canada.

Canadians proudly wear orange shirts today. The shirts are worn, to honor and acknowledge all of the Indigenous children that attended residential schools.

Every single Canadian has in some way been impacted by residential schools and we need to recognize this as a country.

150,000 children attended residential schools

6000 died while attending the school but this is only the number actually recorded as it is much higher

There are around 80,000 survivors that are still alive today in Canada

I have had the privilege of meeting several survivors and their bravery and resiliency continues to blow me away.

I recognize them today.

I acknowledge all that was taken from them.

They were deprived, shamed, physically abused, sexually abused and emotionally abused.

I will never forgot their stories...

So today I celebrate all of them.

Why September 30th?

The buses and trucks would roll into Indigenous communities, during the month of a September. They came to collect all the children to take them to these ‘so called schools.’ Parents would try to hide their kids but were threatened and ultimately had to comply.

Many were taken by force.

Some would never be seen again...

The Story Behind The Orange Shirt

In 1973 six year old Phyllis Webstad was taken from her community and entered the St. Joseph Mission Residential School. She was incredibly proud of her beautiful orange shirt that she was wearing. The staff at the school, stripped the shirt from little Phyllis. She was then forced to put on the institutional school uniform.

Phyllis attended this school for only a year but was impacted by this experience for the rest of her life.

“I finally get it, that feeling of worthlessness and insignificance, ingrained in me from my first day at the mission, affected the way I lived my life for many years. Even now, when I know nothing could be further than the truth, I still sometimes feel that I don’t matter.”

-P. Webstad

The orange shirt is worn today to recognize the experience of Indian residential schools.

EVERY CHILD MATTERS

#residentialschools

#reconciliation

#neverforget

thanks for reading ❤️