Some students at 100 Mile Elementary participated in some Orange Shirt Day activities Tuesday, ahead of the annual event held today, Sept. 30, in conjunction with the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Orange Shirt Day honours the children who survived residential schools and remembers those who did not. It tells the story of Phyllis Webstad, of the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation, who arrived on her first day of residential school wearing a new orange shirt, which was then taken from her.
READ MORE: Phyllis Webstad, truth and reconciliation champion
Orange Shirt Day is now a symbol of the stripping away of culture and freedom experienced by Indigenous children over generations. The new National Day for Truth and Reconciliation also honours the lost children and survivors of residential schools, their families and communities.
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
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