WINNIPEG -- Sept. 30 marks Orange Shirt Day, a day meant for meaningful conversations and education about the history of residential schools in Canada.
The colour pays tribute to an orange shirt a First Nations girl in British Columbia had taken from her on her first day at a residential school in 1973.
Source: Zachary Kitchen/CTV News
“Back in May 2013, there was a group that began in B.C. to commemorate the residential schools,” said Rob Riel, director of Indigenous education for the Winnipeg School Division (WSD).
“Orange Shirt Day became a legacy project.”
Riel noted Orange Shirt Day is not a celebration; it’s a time to open global conversations on residential schools in Canada.
In the WSD, students do more than just wearing orange shirts.
Riel said the school plans a day which “kicks off the understanding of what school is all about.”
“For example, Kindergarten to Grade 3 students, they don’t talk specifically about residential schools and go into the trauma, but what they do talk about is what school really is and what it should be,” he said.
“It should be a safe and caring and loving, community-based place that builds on trust and that sense of belonging.”
Riel said once the students get into the higher grades, they learn about what happened and how the symbolic orange shirt was taken away from the student.
Source: Zachary Kitchen/CTV News
The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) is holding a virtual reconciliation event called "Every Child Matters: Reconciliation through Education.”
The event is expected to be the largest reconciliation event to ever take place in Canada and is available on the NCTR website, Facebook, and YouTube.
- With files from CTV’s Michelle Gerwing.
Source: Zachary Kitchen/CTV News
Source: Zachary Kitchen/CTV News
Source: Zachary Kitchen/CTV News
Source: Zachary Kitchen/CTV News
