This Thursday, September 30, 2021 is the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. (https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/national-day-truth-reconciliation.html) This is also the 8th year of Orange Shirt Day. (https://www.orangeshirtday.org/)

In 1973, on her first day at St. Joseph's Residential School in Williams Lake, BC, Phyllis's shiny new orange shirt was stripped from her, never to be seen again. 40 years later, on September 30th, 2013, Phyllis spoke publicly for the first time about her experience. It is now a symbol of the stripping away of culture, freedom and self-esteem experienced by Indigenous children over generations and thus began the Orange Shirt Day movement. (read more about Phyllis’s story here https://www.cbc.ca/kidscbc2/the-feed/what-is-orange-shirt-day)

There were 140 federally run Indian Residential Schools which operated in Canada between 1831 and 1998. The earliest recognized and longest running residential school was the Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ontario (1831 – 1962). The last federally run residential school to close was Gordon’s School in Punnichy, Saskatchewan, which closed in 1996 and subsequently decommissioned.

During the residential school era it is estimated that:

• 150,000 children attended these schools

• Over 6,000 died while attending these schools (based on partial federal government records)

• Approximately 80,000 survivors of these schools are alive today

Learn more about the history of Residential Schools - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/a-history-of-residential-schools-in-canada-1.702280.

Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process. We encourage our members to learn more about the truth of our Canadian History and honour the lost children and Survivors of residential schools, their families and communities.

So what can you do?

• Wear orange on September 30.

• Support local indigenous businesses such as www.peblgoods.ca, who you can actually purchase a “every child matters” orange shirt if you don’t already have one.

• Educate yourself and read through the links above and/or search out more information.