Orange Shirt Day & residential schools

Again we will start examining an issue happening now in Canadian society, and then look to the past to better understand how we have arrived to this moment in time.  This week we will focus on residential schools and movements for healing and reconciliation.  Next week, we will dive back into history and examine the Indian Act.

On Friday this week, as a school, we will recognize and honour Orange Shirt Day.

Orange Shirt Day began in Williams Lake, BC in 2013 at the St. Joseph Mission (SJM) residential school commemoration event and has since spread across the country. The name Orange Shirt Day honours survivor Phyllis Webstad's story of having her shiny new orange shirt taken away from her on her first day of school at the Mission.

The date of the annual event was chosen because it is the time of year that children were taken from their homes to residential schools. Orange Shirt Day has become an annual opportunity to honour the Indigenous peoples whose families and communities have been impacted by the residential school system, to continue the discussion about all aspects of residential schools and to support anti-racism and anti-bullying work.  http://www.uvic.ca/info/orangeshirtday/

Orange Shirt Day Organization: http://www.orangeshirtday.org

To understand the impact of residential schools, this video is useful:

http://wherearethechildren.ca/en/resources

Every Child Matters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riSqg53AJb8&sns=fb