'It's my most stolen image': Concerns raised about stolen Indigenous art for Orange Shirt Day

Many people will soon be wearing an orange shirt, an action meant to honour those impacted by residential schools, but not all orange shirts are what you think.

An Indigenous artist has a buyer-beware warning ahead of Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Jackie Traverse said she's been dealing with stolen art on orange shirts for five years now. This year, she's found two online sellers on Facebook using her art, one a more recent work featuring a turtle, the other of four women, which she says was first stolen from her 13 years ago.

Art work by Jackie Traverse, which she says is constantly stolen and used as a design for products. Uploaded Sept. 24, 2024. (Jackie Traverse)

“It's still very popular. It's my most stolen image,” Traverse said.

She could send a cease-and-desist order, but Traverse said it keeps happening every year. Instead, she and a friend designed an educational poster, encouraging buyers to ask questions about who is profiting from the shirt sales and who the art belongs to.

“Those are basic things they should have. If they don't have them, then that probably means they stole the artwork off the internet.”

Jackie Traverse shares a poster so people know what they are buying for Orange Shirt Day. Uploaded Sept. 24, 2024. (Jackie Traverse)

Every September, Katie German does her best to support an Indigenous-run business when buying her family orange shirts.

“It’s an Indigenous thing and it should be Indigenous-led, Indigenous-supported. Money should be going back to the Indigenous artists. That's how it works,” she said.

The shirts German bought are from INAC in CF Polo Park Mall.

This year's INAC shirt design was a concept staff came up with as a group, and a local artist brought it to life. Owner, Michelle Cameron, said some of their designs have been stolen too. In 2021, she said she bought up 100,000 blank orange shirts to keep the proceeds within the Indigenous community.

“Do you not make Sept. 30 about an opportunity to make money,” Cameron said.

“This is changing the lives of survivors. They are finally healing from all of this because of the truth that's coming out.”

Cameron said INAC donates a portion of its profits from the sale of orange shirts to organizations supporting Indigenous communities.