September 30th marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day established by the Canadian government in 2021 to honour survivors and those who never returned home from residential schools.
It’s also Orange Shirt Day. In fact, it was Orange Shirt Day before it was anything else.
That’s the message Phyllis Webstad, the creator of Orange Shirt Day, wants Canadians to remember on Sept. 30 each year.
Webstad is a residential school survivor. She was forced to attend St. Joseph’s Mission, an institution near Williams Lake, B.C., at the age of six. Her grandmother gave her a new orange shirt to mark the occasion, but it — along with the rest of her clothing — was taken away as soon as she arrived at residential school.
She …