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Meet Phyllis Webstad
The “orange shirt” in Orange Shirt Day refers to the new shirt that Phyllis Webstad was given to her by her grandmother for her first day of school at St. Joseph’s Mission residential school in British Columbia. When Phyllis got to school, they took away her clothes, including her new shirt. It was never returned. To Phyllis, the colour orange has always reminded her of her experiences at residential school and, as she has said, “how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and I felt like I was worth nothing. All of us little children were crying and no one cared.”
Residential schools for Aboriginal people in Canada date back to the 1870s. Over 130 residential schools were located across the country, and the last school closed in 1996. These government-funded, church-run schools were set up to eliminate parental involvement in the intellectual, cultural, and spiritual development of Aboriginal children.
During this era, more than 150,000 First Nations,
Métis, and Inuit children were placed in these schools often against
their parents' wishes. Many were forbidden to speak their language and
practice their own culture. While there is an estimated 80,000 former
students living today, the ongoing impact of residential schools has
been felt throughout generations and has contributed to social problems
that continue to exist.
The Orange Shirt Story by Phyllis Webstad
What other activities can you think of to promote every child matters...
