Manitoba teen's Orange Shirt Day design sells out

Winnipeg -

A shirt designed by an Indigenous teen from Swan Lake First Nation and worn by countless Manitobans leading up to Orange Shirt Day has sold out across the province.

Eighteen-year-old Kaelynn Maud, an artist living in Portage la Prairie, created the dreamcatcher Orange Shirt Day design that's been spotted across Manitoba.

Maud said they incorporated a dreamcatcher into their design because of its significance in Indigenous culture and its symbolism to residential school survivors. (Source: Facebook/Eagle's Wings Flight School)

It all started when Ashleigh Cordery, a program coordinator with Eagle’s Wings Flight School, noticed there were no local, Indigenous folks selling orange t-shirts. Maud is a graduate of the program, which is aimed at helping at-risk youth find their passion through aviation.

Cordery remembered Maud’s artistic talents from when they interviewed for the program.

So, Cordery asked Maud and fellow artist Cyle Daniels from Long Plain First Nation to create original artwork for new orange shirts in honour of the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Maud said they incorporated a dreamcatcher into their design because of its significance in Indigenous culture and its symbolism to residential school survivors.

“The dreamcatcher in my culture, it’s supposed to be hung above the bed or in a room to protect sleeping people from bad energies, and if you do have a nightmare, you take it outside and leave it out in the sunlight,” Maud told CTV News.

“That’s what came to mind when I was making this. It’s how the residential schools and the children are being brought out in the sunlight.”

The shirts also functioned as a fundraiser for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, an organization devoted to learning and dialogue, where the truths of residential school survivors, families and communities are honoured and kept safe for future generations.

“This is a really great cause that we donated to,” they said.

Maud has been drawing since they could hold a pencil and credits their mother with passing down a passion for art.

With the design sold out across the province, Maud is grateful they got one.

"I just picked mine up yesterday,” Maud said.

Looking to the future, the young artist hopes the new statutory holiday continues on, along with their orange shirt.

“I’m really proud of my design. I really hope that this continues,” they said.