The color orange was chosen because of something that happened to Phyllis Webstad when she was only six years old. It was September 30, 1973—the first day she attended St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School in British Columbia. Her grandmother had bought Webstad a brand-new, shiny orange shirt to wear, adding to the young student’s first-day-of-school excitement.
“I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t give it back to me—it was mine! The color orange has always reminded me of that and how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared, and how I felt like I was worth nothing. All of us little children were crying, and no one cared,” Webstad said.
She never forgot the loss that turned into a hurt deep in her heart.
In 2013, Webstad was invited to return to St. Joseph’s as an Indian residential school survivor. She encouraged other survivors to buy orange t-shirts as a way to remember those who attended residential schools across Canada. This inspired her to form the Orange Shirt Society.
“Wearing orange shirts is a symbol of defiance against those things that undermine children’s self-esteem, and of our commitment to anti-racism and anti-bullying in general,” Webstad explains.
The Orange Shirt Society, however, is not all about defiance. Orange Shirt Day also serves as an opportunity for First Nations, local governments, schools, and communities to come together in the spirit of reconciliation and hope for generations of children to come, Webstad said.
September 30 was chosen as the primary day of remembrance because it is around that time of year when Indigenous children were taken from their homes and sent to residential schools. It also marks an opportunity to set the stage for anti-racism and anti-bullying policies for the coming school year.
Since 2013, Orange Shirt Day has evolved into days of reflection throughout Canada and the United States. The color orange has also become significant in other Indigenous cultural expressions, such as women’s jingle dress dancers.
Today, Orange Shirt Day is marked with a more serious tone, especially following the revelation in late May that the remains of 215 children were discovered in a mass grave at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Since then, thousands of other remains have been found at residential schools throughout Canada.
The phrase “Every Child Matters” has become a powerful mantra seen on t-shirts and rally signs across the nation.
Two years ago, for the first time, Canada celebrated Truth and Reconciliation Day on September 30, 2021. But for many, September 30 will always be known as Orange Shirt Day because of the difference Phyllis Webstad made in the creation of this Indigenous movement.
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https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/through-the-eyes-of-a-6-year-old-child-orange-became-a-symbol-of-an-indigenous-movement-4