{"id":14990,"date":"2022-09-01T08:24:09","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T13:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sageworld.com\/blog\/?p=14990"},"modified":"2025-04-14T13:07:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T18:07:09","slug":"the-story-of-orange-shirt-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sageworld.com\/resources\/index.php\/2022\/09\/01\/the-story-of-orange-shirt-day\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of Orange Shirt Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Author’s Note: This blog discusses indigenous residential schools and the traumatic effects that they have had on the indigenous community in Canada and may awaken memories of abuse and traumatic experiences. The National Residential School Crisis Line provides 24-hour support<\/a> for former students and their families. You can call toll-free at 1-866-925-4419.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the first day of school for six-year-old Phyllis Webstad in 1973. She clearly remembers that day: she was wearing a brand-new orange shirt given to her by her grandmother. New clothes were an exciting and rare thing for the little girl raised by her grandmother, after all. But as soon as she got to St. Joseph Mission Residential School, she was quickly stripped of all of her clothes, including her brand-new orange shirt, by mission oblates (the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines<\/a> oblates as a “layman living in a monastery under a modified rule without vows”), and given the school’s uniform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She never got her clothes back, including the orange shirt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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St. Joseph Mission Residential School
orangeshirtday.org<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For her, the color orange has constantly reminded her that no one cared for her, her feelings didn’t matter, and she was worth nothing to the mission oblates, the Church, and Canada. In many ways, it has also become a bigger symbol than just being forgotten: it’s a symbol of how the indigenous culture was ripped from the tribes of Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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cbc.ca<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From 1883 to 1997<\/a>, more than 150,000 children were forcibly removed from their homes to attend these boarding schools. Their “education” focused on Christianity, manual labor, and cultural assimilation – it was cultural genocide. Children would be physically abused if they were caught speaking their native language. Because of that, the languages have almost all been lost, along with stories and traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conditions inside the residential schools were abhorrent. <\/a>The schools were poorly built with inadequate ventilation, no hospital wings for sick children, and improper heating. Children were also malnourished from a lack of sufficient nutrition. Officially, over four thousand kids<\/a> were reported to have died at residential schools, though the number may be higher with the discovery of unmarked mass graves<\/a> on or near school grounds. Many of the deaths are attributed to tuberculosis – though the argument could be made that malnourishment was undoubtedly a factor. In 1907, the Chief Medical Officer for the Department of Indian Affairs, P. H. Bryce, visited 35 government-funded schools. He reported<\/a> that 25% of all the children who attended the residential schools had died – with one school having 69% of its students die. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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nytimes.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bryce wasn’t the only one who spoke up about the condition of the schools – hundreds of people did throughout their tenure, but no one listened. And while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau<\/a> and Pope Francis<\/a> have since apologized for the parts the Canadian government and the Church played in the horrors of residential schools, the scars of trauma still run very deep both for the survivors and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2013, former student Chief Fred Robbins of the Esketemc Tribe<\/a> brought together other prior students and their families, mayors, school districts, and civil organizations from the Cariboo Regional District to honor and witness the healing of the survivors and to commemorate the residential school experience. The day’s participants were challenged to keep the reconciliation process alive so children wouldn’t be forgotten anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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