National Day of Truth and Reconciliation – September 30, 2023

This Saturday, September 30, 2023 is National Truth and Reconciliation Day.

Since 2013, September 30 has been commemorated as “Orange Shirt Day”, inspired by the story of residential school survivor Phyllis Jack Webstad.

As a young girl, Phyllis was gifted a new orange shirt by her grandmother before she was taken to a B.C. residential school. The shirt was confiscated and destroyed by her teacher on the first day of classes. The story has come to symbolize the colonial assimilation goals of the residential school system.