Clad in orange T-shirts, students across the country will spend their Mondays learning about the intergenerational harm done to children at CanadaB次元官网网址檚 residential schools.
Sept. 30 marks the seventh annual Orange Shirt Day, started by Phyllis Webstad, a residential school survivor and StswecemB次元官网网址檆 XgatB次元官网网址檛em from Williams Lake. The national day of remembrance refers to one of her first memories at St. JosephB次元官网网址檚 Mission Residential School in B.C.B次元官网网址檚 central Interior in the 1970s, when staff took away her orange shirt, bought especially for school, when she was six years old.
B次元官网网址淭he colour orange has always reminded me of that [incident] and how my feelings didnB次元官网网址檛 matter, how no one cared and how I felt like I was worth nothing,B次元官网网址� Webstad writes on the Orange Shirt Day website. B次元官网网址淎ll of us little children were crying and no one cared.B次元官网网址�
Her story has inspired many across the country and around the world to talk about the realities of residential schools and the wider historical marginalization of Indigenous peoples.
Thousands of First Nations, M茅tis and Inuit children were removed from their homes and forced to attend residential schools. The last one closed in 1996.
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Webstad spends her time sharing her story and her beliefs about reconciliation with young people, including at an elementary school in B.C.B次元官网网址檚 Fraser Valley earlier this month.
B次元官网网址淭he elementary (schools) are the hardest,B次元官网网址� she told the . B次元官网网址淚 have to really watch what I say with the younger ones. With the older ones, I can tell them more, but with the younger ones, itB次元官网网址檚 really just surface stuff to introduce the topic.B次元官网网址�
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This yearB次元官网网址檚 Orange Shirt Day will also celebrate Bill C-369, a federal bill awaiting a second vote in the Senate to make Sept. 30 the . If passed, the last day of September will be a statutory holiday.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 the truth of the history of Canada,B次元官网网址� Webstad said of residential schools. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 not just First Nation history, this is Canadian history. And Canadians that live in this country need to be aware of this dark past.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址� with files from Grace Kennedy
ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca
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